A 26-year-old volunteer firefighter from Cameron is dead after the fire truck he was driving left the roadway and rolled over in Milam County on Sunday afternoon, as he responded to a reported grass fire. Rick Joseph Fuentes was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Texas Department of Public Safety says its investigation into the crash is ongoing.
According to KXAN Austin, the Buckholts Fire Department vehicle Fuentes was driving had left the roadway near the 7300 block of Farm-to-Market Road 437 before rolling over. The truck was responding to a reported vehicle and grass fire in the 13000 block of Wood Road in Holland, Texas. KCEN-TV reports that DPS investigators identified the vehicle as a 1991 Bowen-McLaughlin-York (BMY) truck.
Milam County Justice of the Peace Greg Hoelscher officially pronounced Fuentes dead at the scene, according to reporting relayed by KWTX. DPS notified Fuentes's next of kin following the crash, and the agency's investigation into the circumstances that led the truck to leave the roadway remains active.
Buckholts Fire Department
Buckholts is a community, and volunteers are involved with its fire department. Surplus military trucks have been used as brush trucks through the Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program managed by the USDA Forest Service.
Firefighting equipment can be used in fire response. Driving heavy apparatus to a fire can also carry serious risks.
Fire Apparatus Crashes Pose Risks
Fuentes's death underscores the dangers firefighters can face while responding to emergencies. Driving heavy apparatus to wildland fires can carry serious risks.
The dangers of driving heavy apparatus to wildland fires have surfaced elsewhere in Texas this year. Firefighters from the Katy-based Willowfork Fire Department were injured in a head-on collision earlier in 2026 while assisting on the Ross Fire in North Texas, as Hoodline previously reported.
DPS's investigation into the crash that killed Fuentes continues, and no further details on the cause have been released.
