Incident Name: Fire on the Santa Clara Ranger Unit in CA
Date: 10/6/1965
Personnel: Wanda G Woods
Age: 52
Agency/Organization: CDF (now CAL FIRE)
Position: firefighter
Summary: On 10/6/1965 CDF firefighter Wanda Woods was fighting a fire on the Santa Clara Ranger Unit in California. She suffered a heart attack and died.
Maps
Santa Clara Ranger Unit, CA
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- From NWCG Fire Fatality Record: Historical Wildland Firefighter Fatalities 1910 – 1996 (407 K pdf)Date: 1965
Fire Name / Location: Santa Clara Ranger Unit, CA
1 fatality
Agency: CDF
Fire behavior observed: Unknown
Remarks: Died of heart attack.
- From 1965 CA Memorial Wall database, only CDF heart attack fatality in 1965:Wanda Woods
Agency: CDF
Date: 10/6/1965
Cause: stress, heart attack during fire suppression
- California, Death Index: Wanda G WoodsName: Wanda G Woods
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 06 Oct 1965
Event Place: Santa Clara, California, United States
Birth Date: 17 Jan 1913
Birthplace: Missouri
Gender: Female
Father’s Name:
Mother’s Name: Caldwell
Age: 52
Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
- California Memorial Firefighter Wall in Sacramento, CA: California Memorial LODDs by Wall Order. (84 K pdf) –see page 11
Contributors to this article: Mellie
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Wanda Woods was a Forestry Lookout on duty at Copernicus Peak. She reported having chest pains in a phone call with the local State Forestry station and when someone went to check on her, they found her unresponsive, lying on the bed. She served the State as a lookout for several years and had previously worked as a lookout in Shasta county for the USFS. I have found several newspaper articles mentioning her.