Remains of firefighter killed in California wildfires being returned to North Texas

A fallen North Texas firefighter who died helping battle California wildfire was welcomed back home on Wednesday.

CRESSON, Texas - A fallen North Texas firefighter who died helping battle California wildfire was welcomed back home on Wednesday.

Diana Jones, 63, worked with the Cresson Volunteer Fire Department as a firefighter and EMT. Her remains were flown home Wednesday evening.

The 63-year old died in late August while working as a contract firefighter in the Mendocino National Forest in Northern California. Family members say she’s been fighting wildfires out west this time of year for several years.

“She’s usually gone at this time of year,” said Melinda Shelly, Jones’ step-daughter-in-law. “And it’s just one of those things where you just sit there and say no. She’s coming back. She’ll come back. That can’t happen to her. Not her.”

But it happened, and with her son Ion, who was also fighting fires, working nearby. Ion is the one bringing back her remains. He’s also the reason she gladly joined Cresson’s fire department less than five years ago.

“Her son was on our fire department. He’s been on our fire department now for 19 years,” said Cresson Fire Chief Ron Becker. “She saw some of what he was doing. It seemed to have an appeal to her.”

Fires out west are raging in several states. Lives have been lost. Countless homes and businesses have been destroyed.

Some communities are left with the eeriest of orange glows that’s almost too surreal to comprehend. Clouds of smoke are so thick that it’s difficult for drivers to see what lies ahead.

Jones’ Cresson family and immediate family say she died while doing what she loved: helping others.

And as they remember Jones, their hearts are with everyone directly affected by these fires and the other first responders working to save whatever and whoever they can.

“It is a thankless job. It is dangerous,” Shelly said. “You are just out there saving people’s lives and I from the bottom of my heart am so grateful for every single one of you.”

Jones will lie in state at the Cresson Fire Department's training facility. The department voted this week to rename that facility in Jones’ honor.

Jones' funeral is a week from Saturday in Granbury.