FRIDAY FOTO (December 15, 2017)

Flying Fire Fighter.

(Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Nieko Carzis)

A California Air National Guard C-130J Hercules drops fire retardant over the hills above Santa Barbara, California on December 13, 2017. The aircraft, helping fight the fatal Thomas Fire, is assigned to the 146th Airlift Wing.

A 32-year-old firefighter, Cory Iverson, lost his life Thursday (December 14) battling the Thomas Fire, the largest of the blazes plaguing southern California. Iverson, who had been a firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — also known as Cal Fire — since 2009, was a fire apparatus engineer from San Diego, according to a Cal Fire spokeswoman, CNN reported.