The Latest: Service held for firefighter killed in blaze

BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – The Latest on a memorial service for a Vermont firefighter who died battling Nevada wildfires (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Thousands paid their respects to a Vermont firefighter who died while battling a wildfire in Great Basin National Park in Nevada.

The service for 26-year-old Justin Beebe was held Saturday at Bellows Falls Union High School.

WCAX-TV (http://bit.ly/2bWgEwf ) reports that family friend David Clark called Beebe “a tremendous athlete” who was “well-liked.”

Beebe was in his first year as a member of the Lolo Hotshots, elite U.S. Forest Service firefighters based in Missoula, Montana, when he died Aug. 13. Hotshots from all over were at Beebe’s service.

One Massachusetts mother told WCAX she didn’t know Beebe, but her son was also a Hotshot who died. Dee Burke said she wanted Beebe’s family to know there’s another Hotshot family in New England.

Beebe’s loves ones say he had a passion for people and the outdoors.

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10:15 a.m.

A memorial service is set for the Vermont firefighter who died while battling a wildfire in Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada.

The service for 26-year-old Justin Beebe will be held Saturday at the Bellows Falls Union High School.

Beebe was in his first year as a member of the Lolo Hotshots, elite U.S. Forest Service firefighters based in Missoula, Montana, when he died Aug. 13.

Beebe was killed by a falling tree as he battled a fire sparked by lightening not far from the Nevada-Utah line, about 200 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Beebe’s family and friends describe him as a young man who had a passion for people and the outdoors.

A memorial service was held Aug. 20 in Missoula.