A co-worker to the wildland firefighter who died while battling the Greenwood Lake wildfire over the weekend spoke with News 12 about the 18-year-old’s heroic efforts before tragedy struck.

“A tree was cut. it fell and it was just a freak accident,” says R. Scott Spidle. “The echo of the tree falling, the sound was still in the air and one of the team members yelled, ‘man down.’"

Spidle says he and Dariel Vasquez were with a team of six state parks workers who were cutting trees and digging fire lines in the woods off East Shore Road on the border of New York and New Jersey. He says Vazquez was in an area considered to be a safe zone when his teammates cut down a tree and it fell at an unexpected angle, landing on the state worker and killing him.

Spidle, who used to work as a photographer, gave News 12 pictures he took of Vazquez, himself and their crew in the fiery woods up until minutes before the accident to document their efforts.

He said he had no idea they would be the final pictures ever taken of his coworker, who he describes as a hard-working hero.

“He did his job all day long. He was brave. He showed no fear. He just went at it. He was a great kid. He had a great future ahead of him. He just did his job with pride. We should be proud of him,” says Spidle.

Spidle says Vasquez was still breathing shortly after the tree fell but that he succumbed to his injuries in the woods. He says half of their team worked on Vasquez to save him while others continued to dig a fire line as it quickly approached until emergency medical crews and backup could arrive.

A GoFundme page has been created to assist the family.