|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Cory David Iverson began his fire service career in 2008 as a volunteer firefighter with the Elfin Forest-Harmony Grove Fire Department in San Diego County. In 2009, Cory accepted an offer for a Firefighter I position with the Riverside Unit of CAL FIRE. During that time, his most treasured assignment was as a firefighter assigned to Helicopter 301 out of the Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base. In 2012, he spent one season as a federal firefighter with the Bear Divide Hotshot Crew before returning to the airbase in 2013.
This was also the year that he met the love of his life, Ashley. They were married in 2014, and he began his most important role as husband and father. In 2015, Cory and Ashley became the proud parents to their firstborn daughter, Evie Rose. Two months later, Cory accepted a promotion to fire apparatus engineer and spent one year in the Tuolumne-Calaveras CAL FIRE Unit before accepting a permanent FAE position in the Monte Vista Unit assigned to Dulzura Station 30.
In 2017, Cory was elated to learn he would be a daddy again to another little girl, who he unfortunately was never able to meet. On December 14, 2017, while battling the Thomas Fire in Ventura County, Cory was overrun by fast moving flames and perished.
The Thomas Fire
The Thomas Fire affected Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and one of multiple wildfires that ignited in Southern California in December 2017. It burned approximately 281,893 acres before being fully contained on January 12, 2018, making it the largest wildfire in modern California history at the time.
The Thomas Fire destroyed at least 1,063 structures, while damaging 280 others and caused over $2.2 billion in damages, including $230 million in suppression costs, becoming the seventh-most destructive wildfire in state history at the time.
RIP Engineer Iverson
The California State Firefighters Association Board of Directors and Staff Members
Credit: Wikipedia and National Fallen Firefighters Foundation