A veteran California fire lookout died in the devastating McKinney wildfire that has torched huge swaths of the state since the end of July. Kathy Shoopman, 73, spent five decades watching for smoke rising above the treetops from towers in the Klamath National Forest. Shoopman lived in the small town of Klamath River, which was almost entirely reduced to ash when flames from the McKinney fire swept through. “That fire came down on the community with 60 to 70 mph winds coming down on it,” said Tom Stokesberry, the U.S. Forest Service’s northern operations fire public-affairs specialist. He added that he believed Shoopman was attempting to evacuate when she lost her life, but the precise circumstances of how she died are still being investigated. “When the fire made its initial push, she was caught in her home,” Stokesberry said. He added that Shoopman was “one of the best,” saying: “She is a legend in the lookout community. She was not only able to identify the fires, but she could locate them with pinpoint accuracy.”
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