1995 04/15 TN James Wilson

Incident Name: small fire in Dickson County, TN
Date: 4/15/1995
Personnel: James Ronnie Wilson
Age: 53
Agency/Organization: Tennessee Division of Forestry, Burns TN
Position: firefighter, Forestry Technician

Summary: James Ronnie Wilson was a Forestry Technician and served in the Tennessee Division of Forestry for 25 years. After assisting with the suppression of a 4-acre fire near Greenbrier, TN, while walking the line to ensure the fire was out, Ronnie became ill and nauseous. He felt it was due to drinking too much water. After releasing all resources from the fire Ronnie and his crew were refilling the pumper with water. His arms hurt and he called his wife and asked her to come drive him home. Upon reaching his residence Ronnie got out of the truck and laid down on the ground and passed away. He died of a probable coronary artery occlusion or stroke. This was on April 15 1995. He had worked to suppress 99 fires in the previous 49 days.

Maps

Greenbrier, TN

{mosmap lat=’36.427548’|lon=’-86.804720’|marker=’0’|text=’Greenbrier, TN’}

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Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned

Brief anonymous record from the NWCG: Historical Wildland Firefighter Fatalities 1910 – 1996 (p 12) (408 K pdf)
Year: 1995

Location: Greenbrier, TN

Fatalities: 1

Agency: TSF (Tennessee State Forestry in those days)

Fire Behavior: Unknown

Remarks: Heart attack
Information and analysis included in the Firefighter Fatality Report for 1995 (297 K pdf)
US Social Security Death Record: James R Wilson