SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - An inmate firefighter who was injured last week battling an East County fire has died.
Frank Anaya, 22, was working the fire line of a half an acre brush fire near the Rancho Los Coches mobile home park in Lakeside on July 5, when he was severely injured in the leg by a chainsaw, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
Firefighters at the scene gave Anaya first aid and he was transported to a nearby hospital, where he underwent multiple surgeries, CDCR said.
RELATED: Fire burning near Interstate 8 in eastern San Diego County
He died of his injuries early Tuesday.
“We are saddened by the death of Frank Anaya, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends,” CDCR Secretary Scott Kernan said. “Anaya provided an invaluable public service and helped protect our communities from devastating fires.”
Anaya was assigned to the La Cima Conservation Camp in San Diego County and brought to CDCR in 2016. He was serving a three-year sentence.
Anaya is the second inmate firefighter to die in 2017 and the fifth since the program began in the 1940s, according to CDCR.
