LAKE PILLSBURY - Fire retardant dropped from an airplane into an area that should have been cleared of firefighters may have had something to do with last week’s death of a battalion chief at Northern California’s Mendocino Complex fire.

Matthew Burchett, 42, was struck and killed by falling tree debris Aug. 13 near Lake Pillsbury (Lake County) in a spot where, simultaneously, thousands of gallons of the chemical slurry used to quash flames was released, state fire officials said in a preliminary report Monday.

The report did not specify what role the retardant played in Burchett’s death — for example, whether it caused tree branches to fall. But the drop appears to be at odds with safety protocol recommending that fire personnel retreat from areas where retardant is about to be used.

Monday’s three-sentence report by Cal Fire and carried by the San Francisco Chronicle, is expected to be followed by a more detailed analysis of what went wrong. Three other firefighters were injured in the incident.

Story Date: August 25, 2018