Yuba City bulldozer operator killed in accident on I-80 en route to fight North Fire

A Yuba City bulldozer operator on his way to help fight the North Fire in Blue Canyon was killed Tuesday in a car accident.

Antonio “Tony” Flores, 37, was on his way to the incident command post in Blue Canyon around 5:45 a.m. when he veered onto the right shoulder of Interstate 80, west of Emigrant Gap Road, and collided into a parked Freightliner that had broken down, a California Highway Patrol press release states. Flores lost control of his vehicle and traveled down a dirt embankment where his truck overturned and came to a stop on its wheels. He was not wearing a seatbelt, according to the release.

Flores worked for Kent Siller Trucking in Yuba City for more than 20 years as a master mechanic and heavy equipment operator. He had been a bulldozer operator for the last three years and had worked on a number of fires for the U.S. Forest Service and Calfire.

Andrea Siller, of Siller and Siller Construction, started a Gofundme page to help Flores’ family: https:// tinyurl.com/ybonnbhu.

Flores leaves behind a wife of 18 years and four children, according to the Gofundme page.

“Our hearts are absolutely broken with the loss of our employee,” Siller wrote. “Tony was also a master mechanic and would help anywhere he was needed. Tony had worked with our family for more than 20 years and he became family to us.”

The North Fire has been burning for a week in the Tahoe National Forest, according to the release.

The driver of the parked Freightliner was not injured, according to the CHP release, and the collision is under investigation.

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