California firefighter Darin Banks killed by falling tree honored in convoy to bring his body home
Banks was killed May 6 while working for Firestorm Wildland Fire Suppression Inc. when a tree unexpectedly fell on him in Tuolumne County
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A convoy brought home the body of a contract wildland firefighter Friday who was killed by a falling tree in California last week.
The convoy escorted the body of Darin Banks, 26, on Friday from Modesto to a mortuary in his home city of Red Bluff, 125 miles north of Sacramento. Firefighters from several local agencies saluted Banks along the 200-mile journey.
Banks worked for Firestorm Wildlife Suppression Inc. and was killed May 6 while assigned to a hand crew preparing an area for a prescribed burn in Tuolumne County.
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He left behind a 4-year-old son, Jess Willis, president of the Chico-based company, said in a statement.
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"Darin was the example of 'smile through a bad day.' I can still see his smile every day I wake up," Joss Williams, a member of Banks' crew and a close friend, told KRCR-TV. "He would joke...if he could get you to smile, he'd get you to smile. And if you tried to fight that smile, he'd go after it until he got it."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.