HOWARDRICK, TX -- Firefighter James McMorries Jr., 62, who suffered critical injuries when his apparatus rolled on March 12 near Alanreed, died as a result of those injuries on April 9,2006.

Firefighter McMorries, Jr. and his crew were fighting grass fires that were a part of the over one million acres of burned land that scorched Texas in the first quarter of 2006.

His family took him off life support took him to a local hospice where he died. McMorries suffered collapsed lungs, a broken back, spinal cord injury, broken ribs and a serious head injury. With McMorries' death, the number of people who have died in the March grass fires has climbed to 12. Since March 12, about one million acres have
burned across the Texas Panhandle. Howardwick volunteer firefighters Joseph Garcia, 25, and Jeff Cook, 45, also suffered serious injuries in the crash and are still recovering.

McMorries was driving the apparatus in an area where graders had moved brush to prevent the fire from spreading, breaking up the dirt and leaving behind soft sand. Then firefighter Joseph Garcia, standing on the front of the truck with a hose, saw fire approaching from another direction and motioned to McMorries, who quickly backed
up. But the top-heavy truck loaded with water turned over and rolled down a 60-foot-deep ravine. All three men were thrown off and nearby fire crews rescued them.