LOS ANGELES (AP) — A firefighter assigned to the huge wildfire burning in Southern California has died.

The fatality was announced Thursday afternoon by Chief Ken Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, but he gave no indication of the circumstances.

Pimlott says the firefighter was a Cal Fire engineer from a San Diego unit. The firefighter’s name has not been released.

More than 8,000 firefighters are working on what is now the fourth-largest wildfire in California history, covering 379 square miles (982 square kilometers), in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

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