A firefighter helping to fight a forest fire near Yosemite National Park was killed, officials said Saturday.

Braden Varney, 36, leaves behind a woman and two children, according to CalFire, the state-level firefighting authority.

Varney was a heavy equipment operator for CalFire, and authorities said Saturday morning that a bulldozer had rolled on Ferguson's fire. Afternoon press conference to disclose more details.

"Braden Varney, heavy firefighting equipment operator, tragically killed Ed fought the fire of Ferguson," CalFire said in a statement. "Braden leaves behind a wife and two young children, please join us in keeping Braden's loved ones in your thoughts."

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Varney was badigned to the Madera-Mariposa-Merced CalFire unit, which fought the Ferguson fire of about 130 acres in the Sierra National Forest near El Portal, near the Arch Rock entrance to Yosemite

The Ferguson fire is one of the Dozens of fires burning across California and the West as the region struggles with high temperatures that have greatly increased the danger of fire. The Ferguson Fire is one of the newer and was reported only Friday night. According to equipment demands and aircraft tracking systems, firefighters were violently attacking the fire because they feared rapid growth.

In California, firefighters still fight the 90,000-acre county fire west of Sacramento and the Klamathon Fire of nearly 38,000 acres. the border of Oregon. These fires are now both confined to 90%, but a series of other small fires have erupted across the state.

According to federal authorities, more than one million acres across the country are currently part of active forest fires. So far this year, about 3.3 million acres have been burned by wildfires across the country, slightly ahead of normal for this time of year, on the basis of a ten year average.

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