By Canadian Press

Four B.C. firefighters who died in crash worked for Kamloops company

Sep 21, 2023 | 7:02 PM

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The four British Columbia firefighters who died in a highway crash this week all worked for a Kamloops-based contractor, whose owner says they were like family.

Aaron Duczak, owner of Tomahawk Ventures, says three of the men were Indigenous, and that all four were “irreplaceable.”

The men died when their pickup collided head-on with a semi-truck on Highway 1 east of Cache Creek in the province’s southern Interior early Tuesday morning.

Duczak says in a statement that the men’s lives had been “tragically cut short.”

RCMP say the initial investigation suggests a Ford F-350 pickup truck carrying the four men failed to navigate a bend in the highway and slammed into the semi travelling in the opposite direction.

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Duczak says the company appreciates the public’s support and concerns but is asking for privacy.

“The wildland firefighting community has lost four good ones and they are irreplaceable,” he says. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2023.

The Canadian Press