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(AP) - One of the four firefighters who have died
fighting a California wildfire was born on the Iron Range and had
connections to Minnesota.
 
     Jason Robert McKay, 27, was born in Virginia, but his family
moved to California soon after, his sister Kim McKay said Friday.

      "He loved firefighting," she said. "He was a firefighter and
a paramedic for the (California) Forestry Service. He did it
because he loved to help people."

      The out-of-control brush fire fueled by strong winds and dry
conditions has blackened about 24,000 acres near Palm Springs,
Calif. The blaze has also destroyed 10 homes. Officials believe the
cause is arson.

      Kim McKay, of Duluth, said her brother always wanted to be a
firefighter and went to school for it when he was 18.

      "I would always tell him (via e-mail) to keep his head down and
that a fire was like a woman - you never knew when it was going to
change directions," she said.

      McKay said a funeral service in California is being planned for
all four firefighters who died Thursday.

      McKay's sister said her brother grew up in the Mohave Desert
area and is survived by both parents, Robert McKay Jr. and Bonnie
Reese-McKay, and his siblings - Roberta Dietrich Sissiton, of South
Dakota; Dustin McKay, of Hibbing; Kay Jentoft, of Virginia; Brenda
Zimmerman, of Texas; and Jody and Crystal McKay of California.


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One of the four firefighters who have died
fighting a California wildfire was born on the Iron Range and had
connections to Minnesota.


Firefighter killed in California wildfire had Minnesota ties

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