A 23-year-old federal firefighter who was hurt in a crash that killed two colleagues heading home from wildfire spotting patrol in northern Nevada is out of the hospital.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Rudy Evenson said Wednesday that Zachary McElroy has been discharged from Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno.
Wednesday morning, NHP and local agencies escorted the two deceased firefighters from Winnemucca to Reno. The BLM Public Information Officer, said they both worked out of the BLM Winnemucca office, and lived in Winnemucca. However, their family ties are in the Reno-Tahoe area.
Family members were planning funerals and bureau officials are arranging a memorial service in Winnemucca for 27-year-old Jacob O’Malley and 22-year-old Will Hawkins, one the driver, the other one one of the two passengers. They died Sunday when the Nevada Highway Patrol says their firetruck had a tire blow-out and rolled over several times on State Highway 140 about 40 miles north of Winnemucca.
Mr. O’Malley’s father, Leonard O’Malley of Zephyr Cove, says his son and Hawkins were roommates for the summer wildfire season in Winnemucca, they were returning from fire-spotting patrol. Hawkins was from Reno.
