Cal Fire firefighter, 26, dies in off-duty accident; had served Amador-El Dorado

A Cal Fire firefighter who once served locally in the agency’s Amador-El Dorado Unit died Saturday in an off-duty vehicle accident, Cal Fire officials on the North Coast announced Sunday.

Christion Schoenfeld was 26. Schoenfeld was a Firefighter I working in Cal Fire’s Mendocino Unit at the time of his death. Cal Fire did not provide information on how he died.

“Firefighter Schoenfeld will be remembered as a motivated, goal-oriented public servant, whose exceptional physical fitness and dedication inspired those around him,” Cal Fire officials said in a Facebook post announcing his death.

Schoenfeld was in his third year in the state’s fire service. He turned 26 in June.

Schoenfeld worked two years as a handcrew firefighter in the Amador-El Dorado Unit before his transfer to Mendocino Unit’s Woodlands Fire Station in Mendocino.

Darrell Smith

The Sacramento Bee

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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.