The U.S. Fire Administration has announced the official on-duty death of Fire Chief Dave Anderson, 66, of the Fort Shaw Fire Department on August 25, 2014.
Several weeks after being injured in a collision between two Fort Shaw fire trucks responding to a grass fire near Vaughn, Montana, Fire Chief Anderson passed away in Peace Hospice of Great Falls. According to media reports, Montana Highway Patrol said the driver of the other truck, a brush truck, missed a turnoff en route to the fire and was making a U-turn when Anderson crashed into him. The water tender (tanker) truck driven by Anderson tipped on its side and Anderson had to be extricated from the wreck. He was then transported to the hospital by ambulance.
Anderson was later transferred to a Billings rehabilitation facility that specializes in traumatic brain injury, and then transferred to Peace Hospice. The driver of the second vehicle involved in the accident was not injured.
Tribute is being paid to Fire Chief Dave “Chief 5” Anderson at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/
To date, 58 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2014. Year-to-date and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted online at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/fatalityData/statistics
Fatality status is provisional and may change as USFA contacts State Fire Marshals to verify fatality incident information.
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