UPDATE: Monday 3 p.m. – Photos added from the procession.

Ruben Gonzalez Romero planned to retire after one more season as a firefighter.

For 20 years, he joined crews to take on wildfires throughout the West, living in Keizer during the season.

On Sunday, Aug. 24, his 20-person crew set out for their first day on yet another fire – the Bivens Creek Fire in national forestland in Montana.

At some point, the 64-year-old Gonzalez suffered a cardiac emergency. And despite immediate attention from the team’s trained first-aid lead, Gonzalez Romero didn’t survive.

Now, his family is planning to return his body to his native Mexico, a 2,000-mile journey starting at a funeral home in Whitehall, Montana, and ending in the farming village of Tzitzio.

Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances of his death.

He worked for TJ Forestry Contracting in Monmouth. Company officials didn’t return requests for information but wrote about Gonzalez Romero on the company’s Facebook page.

“He was a dedicated firefighter whom loved his job and enjoyed running his saw on the line. He brought joy, laughter, and wisdom to every crew he worked on,” the post said.

Gonzalez was born in 1961 in Tzitzio, a town of about 10,000 in the Mexican state of Michoacan.

His daughter, Mayra Gonzalez, said in an interview that her father split time between his home town and the U.S. He worked various jobs until a friend urged him to help harvest trees.

He loved working in the forest, she said.

At some point, he picked Keizer as his home base in the U.S., living with a brother.

Emma Delgado befriended him, listening to accounts of his family in Mexico.

“He was very, very sweet,” Delgado said.

On the fire line, he worked as a sawyer, downing trees to help create fire breaks on  out-of-control wildfires.

“He loved the chainsaw,” Delgado said. “He would say, ‘I’m one of the best.’”

Firefighting is demanding labor that entails long hours, the crews often living in tents in fire camps.

“I told him, ‘Man, you gotta retire,’” Delgado said.

His daughter said he was respected in Mexico as a wildland firefighter.

“That’s how I remember my dad – a hard worker,” she said. “We are very proud that our father is recognized as a firefighter.”

One colleague described Gonzalez in a social media post.

“From my first shaky fire run, your gentle embrace and boundless laughter made me family, your short but furious spirit leading with a fire that burned bright, always first to rise, lovingly tuning your saw, outrunning us with that chuckle that danced like starlight, turning grueling shifts into cherished moments of pure delight,” he said in the post.

In the off season, Gonzalez returned to Mexico to tend to roosters on his farm and harvest pine trees that he grew. He and his wife had nine children, four now living in the U.S.

Mayra Gonzalez said people “describe him as a simple and humble man…My father never boasted about what he had done or what he had.”

Delgado thinks Gonzalez was on his third wildfire of the season in Montana.

The crew was dispatched to a fire ignited by lightning on Tuesday, Aug. 13, in the Beaverheard-Deerlodge National Forest in western Montana.

Gonzalez and his crew were assigned to Division B, on the east side of the fire in terrain at about 8,000 feet.

Their first day on the fire was Sunday, Aug. 24.

At some point that afternoon, Gonzalez had trouble breathing and passed out, according to information later shared with his daughter. A team member tried but couldn’t revive him. A federal agency later would ascribe “stress/overexertion” as a factor.

His death made national headlines.

The Montana governor, Greg Gianforte, noted the death in a statement.

“Our wildland firefighters put their lives on the line to defend our communities,” the governor said.

The U.S. Fire Administration reported five deaths among wildland firefighters in 2024.

The body of Gonzalez was taken to a funeral home in Whitehall, Montana. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation provided a 24-hour honor watch, according to fire officials.

His employer organized a Gofundme campaign to help the family with costs of returning Gonzalez’s body to Mexico. That journey was scheduled to start Monday, Sept. 1, with a firefighter procession beginning at K and L Mortuaries.

Delgado, the Keizer friend, said Gonzalez was finally ready to retire. He expected to do so after finishing his duty this season.

“He passed away doing what he loved,” she said.

Reporter Joe Siess of Salem Reporter contributed reporting to this story.

NEWS TIP? Send your suggestion or tip to [email protected].

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DIGITAL NEWS SERVICE: Get around-the-clock access to news about Keizer with a digital subscription to the Keizertimes. It’s secure, is available at $10 a month, and takes just a moment when you go HERE. Your support for local journalism is vital.