LON SLEPICKA and HEATHER CASEY
Firehouse.com News
John Paul (J.P.) Pritchett, Sr., Forestry Crew Chief for the Mississippi Forestry Commission, died of complications Sunday from burns he received while fighting a wildfire August 20.
Pritchett had been running a bulldozer, plowing a firebreak on a several-hundred acre wildfire near the county line separating Webster and Clay counties, according to information officer Harold Anderson.
A change in wind pushed a wall of fire toward him. Pritchett tried to use the blade of his bulldozer to clear an area around his position and scoop out a depression so he could take cover. But he was enveloped by the flames, causing him serious burns.
Pritchett, 56, had been separated from other firefighters while working the fire on private property. No one else was injured in the blaze.
Prior to coming to the forestry commission, Pritchett had worked 20 years for Weyerhaeuser until 1990. In both jobs he had been involved with all facets of forestry.
The state forestry commission is responsible in Mississippi for all wildfires on state and private lands. They assist firefighters on federal property.
Pritchett died September 3 while at the Mississippi Firefighters Memorial Burn Center in Greenville, Mississippi.
Pritchett, who lived in Bell Fountain, leaves a wife, two adult children and a 17-year-old daughter. The funeral was Sept. 6, at the Oliver Funeral Home in Eupora.
A memorial has been established in his name at the burn center in Greenville.
- Firefighters Memorial Office
P.O. Box 935
Greenville, Miss 38702
(662) 332-3101
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