SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A "beloved" U.S. Forest Service lookout is among the four people to have died in California's largest wildfire this year, "devastating" her colleagues in the federal agency.
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The U.S. Forest Service on Monday announced that 73-year-old Kathy Shoopman, an employee with the agency since 1974, died in her Klamath River home during the McKinney Fire. Shoopman was previously named Klamath National Forest's lookout of the year in 2015.
Since igniting on July 29, the McKinney Fire has killed three others, destroyed at least 87 residences and burned more than 60,000 acres. The blaze, by far the largest in the state so far this year, had burned nearly as many acres as the combined land area of Oakland and San Francisco and was 55% contained as of Monday night.
"It's a very tight-knit community, both fire and the lookouts, and people are trying to support each other," Klamath National Forest Public Affairs Officer Jennifer Erickson told KCBS Radio during a phone interview on Monday afternoon.
Shoopman began working at Klamath National Forest as a lookout at Baldy Mountain Lookout in 1974, moving to Lake Mountain Lookout before staffing Buckhorn Lookout. She had worked at Buckhorn since 1993, and Erickson said Shoopman's "familiar and soothing" voice was a regular presence on Forest Service employees' radios.
As a lookout, Shoopman would keep watch over Klamath National Forest, calling in smoke as she saw it and helping with communications while employees worked in areas of the forest with spotty radio service. Shoopman developed longstanding relationships with people in the forest, as well as deep knowledge of the terrain, allowing her to communicate effectively with colleagues.
"She had a voice that was extremely recognizable on the radio. People who worked here kind of came up with hearing her on the radio," Erickson said.
A devout lover of animals, the Forest Service said Shoopman was a talented artist and gardener during her spare time. Erickson said Shoopman was survived by her sister, Shirley. The agency said it "will find many ways to honor Kathy's life and service and keep her spirit in all of our lives."
"We're definitely crushed as a forest," Erickson said. "This is devastating."
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