MT Hot Shot Killed in Crash Returning from Fire

Sept. 5, 2020

Sara Madsen, a first-year crew member of the Helena Hot Shots, died in a single-vehicle crash after leaving a fire assignment.

Source Firehouse.com News

Sara Madsen, 24, was killed in a crash while returning from a fire assignment.

A 24-year-old firefighter with the Helena Hot Shot team was killed in an Idaho crash while she was returning from a fire assignment early Tuesday morning.

Sara Madsen was driving a 1999 Ford Ranger that went off the right shoulder of SH32 near Ashton when the vehicle overturned.

According to the Idaho State Police, Madsen was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected in the crash, KRTV.com reported. She died at the scene, officials said.

The 2020 fire season was Madsen's firstcas part of the Helena Hot Shot crew.

Madsen had a love for the outdoors, according to a Facebook post by the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.

"She began working in natural resources in our very own #Teton Valley as a Youth Conservation Corp member, later moving into the fire program where she served as a crewmember on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest’s Centennial Type II Initial Attack Hand Crew from 2017-2019," the post stated.