Per USFA – Five fire departments, including the Eastland Volunteer Fire Department, were dispatched to a wildland fire located to the south of the city limits of Eastland. Firefighter Simmons drove a brush truck to the incident along with another firefighter. The Eastland brush truck joined other units and attacked the eastern flank of the fire from the unburned area. Access to the area was provided by a single gate from a roadway. A wind shift drove the fire toward firefighters, forcing an immediate evacuation of the area. As apparatus left the area, firefighters on the first brush trucks to escape yelled to firefighters staged by the roadway to evacuate immediately. A brush truck stopped at the gate and was abandoned by the firefighters assigned to it. This blocked the escape path for Firefighter Simmons and the other firefighter on his apparatus. Both firefighters abandoned their vehicle and ran to the roadway to escape the fire. The firefighters were separated during the escape. After the fire passed, Firefighter Simmons was discovered deceased in a ditch.