Family of firefighter killed battling wildfires in Fresno County awarded $15 million
The family of a firefighter who died while battling wildfires that raged in western Fresno County five years ago obtained a $15 million settlement.
Michael John Fournier, a contract pilot with Cal Fire, was on a water-dropping mission and helping fight the Hills Fire that occurred about nine miles south of Coalinga when the helicopter he was attempting to fly crashed.
Fournier, the only person on the helicopter, died.
He was 52 years old, and left behind a wife and two teenage girls.
“Michael Fournier was a hero who died in the line of duty, trying to prevent the Hills Fire from taking more lives and causing further damage in the Coalinga community,” said Andrew C. Robb, one of the attorneys who filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the Fournier family.
The multi-million dollar settlement, reached Friday, was paid by Rotorcraft Support, Inc., the company that maintained the helicopter Fournier was flying.
Attorneys for the Fournier family said that moments before the crash, Fournier declared: “It’s my hydraulics.”
The final report by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the helicopter crashed due to “a hydraulic system failure.”
“The Fournier family’s lawsuit sought answers and accountability,” Robb said, “and this result does just that.”
Robb & Robb LLC is considered one of the top aviation law firms in the United States.
Among other high-profiled cases that the firm has dealt with was the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant in January 2020.
At the time of the helicopter crash involving Fournier, the Hills Fire had been active for four days and grown 1,500 acres with 35% containment, according to Cal Fire.
Fournier was a pilot working for Fillmore-based Guardian Helicopters, which had a contract with the state fire agency, Cal Fire, to provide emergency services on a call-when-needed basis, Zoeh Keliher, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board told The Los Angeles Daily News.