- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
REGIONAL: Search continues for missing persons in Sonoma County, contract firefighter killed in crash identified
The Napa County Sheriff’s Office reported that 38-year-old Garrett Paiz, a volunteer firefighter from Missouri, was the victim of a fatal crash on Monday.
Paiz was driving a privately owned water tender in the 1500 block of the Oakville Grade just after 12:45 a.m. Monday when the crash occurred, the sheriff’s office said. The California Highway Patrol is handling the investigation.
The sheriff’s office said Paiz’s body was escorted from the scene by Napa Sheriff’s deputies, Cal Fire, and various law enforcement and National Guard units in the area.
Paiz’s death brings the confirmed total of deaths in the North Coast’s fires to 37 – eight in Mendocino County in the Redwood fire, 22 in Sonoma County and seven in Napa county.
No deaths have been reported due to the Sulphur fire, according to Lake County officials.
On Tuesday, Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano confirmed that the death toll in his county remained at 22.
He said 200 search and rescue workers – half of them National Guard, the other half with law enforcement agencies – are doing blanket searches of neighborhoods after completing focused searches.
He said drones were being flown over the fire area to help look for hot spots and protect search teams.
Giordano said a total of 1,969 missing persons reports were taken in response to the fires in Sonoma County.
Of those, on Tuesday 26 individuals had still not been located in the Santa Rosa Police Department’s jurisdiction and 27 were outstanding in the sheriff’s office jurisdiction, Giordano said.
In addition to Paiz, the other fire victims identified so far are as follows:
Mendocino County: Kai Logan Shepherd, 14, Redwood Valley; Roy Howard Bowman, 87, Redwood Valley; and Irma Elsie Bowman, 88, Redwood Valley.
Napa County: Charles Rippey, 100, of Napa; Sara Rippey, 98, of Napa; Dr. George Chaney, 89, of Napa; Edward Stone, 79, of Napa; Sally Lewis, 90, of Napa; Teresa Santos, 50, of Napa.
Sonoma County: Carol Collins-Swasey, 76, Santa Rosa; Lynne Anderson Powell, 72, Santa Rosa; Arthur Tasman Grant, 95, Santa Rosa; Suiko Grant, 75, Santa Rosa; Donna Mae Halbur, 80, Larkfield (Santa Rosa); Leroy Peter Halbur, 80, Larkfield (Santa Rosa); Valerie Lynn Evans, 75, Santa Rosa; Carmen Caldentey Berriz, 75, Apple Valley; Michael John Dornbach, 57, Calistoga; Veronica Elizabeth McCombs, 67, Santa Rosa; Sharon Rae Robinson, 79, Santa Rosa; Daniel Martin Southard, 71, Santa Rosa; Lee Chadwick Roger, 72, Glen Ellen; and Carmen Colleen McReynolds, 82, Santa Rosa.
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