A member of the Lolo Hot Shots firefighting team was killed on Saturday while fighting a fire in Nevada.

Public Information Officer Julie Thomas said Justin Beebe of Bellows Falls, Vermont, was killed while fighting the Strawberry Fire near Baker, Nevada.

"The incident is still under investigation," Thomas said. "But, what we believe happened was that they were in an area where lots of snags were falling, and we believe that a snag hit him. Every measure was taken to assist the firefighters to get him off the hill and bring him down for emergency treatment, unfortunately, we lost Justin Beebe due to the injuries he sustained in the fire."

Beebe is survived by his mother in Vermont. He had been a member of the Lolo Hot Shots crew based in Lolo.

More than 400 personnel are fighting the 4,600-acre blaze about 5 miles west of Baker near the Nevada-Utah line some 200 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

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