Ruben Gonzalez Romero planned to retire after one more season as a firefighter.

For 20 years, he joined crews to take on wildfires throughout the West, living in Keizer, Ore. during the season.

On Sunday, Aug. 24, his 20-person crew set out for their first day on yet another fire – the Bivens Creek fire in national forestland in Montana.

At some point, the 64-year-old Gonzalez suffered a cardiac emergency. And despite immediate attention from the team’s trained first-aid lead, Gonzalez Romero didn’t survive.

Now, his family is planning to return his body to his native Mexico, a 2,000-mile journey starting at a funeral home in Whitehall, Montana, and ending in the farming village of Tzitzio. Wildfires Resource Center

Firefighter who died in the line of duty gets a hero's send-off i

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