06/14/2003

Associated Press

A volunteer firefighter died after a man who was carrying her across a parking lot after a social event apparently tripped and dropper her on the pavement, police said.

Shannon Halvorson, 20, of Prineville fell early Friday at a Holiday Inn Express. She was attending a conference of the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association.

According to a police log, an ambulance was summoned to the hotel early Friday morning. Halvorson had hit her head on the pavement after the man carrying her tripped and fell, the log said. The name of the man was not available.

Police investigate at the hotel parking lot where the fatal fall occured. (KGW photo)

Paramedics rushed Halvorson to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, where she died shortly after noon Friday. Albany police are still investigating the death.

The 300 or so people attending the conference learned of Halvorson's injury at a morning meeting Friday. News of her death was released during afternoon sessions.

About half a dozen members of Halvorson's department, Crook County Fire and Rescue, left Friday to return to Prineville, said Crook County spokesman Dan Wood.

Halvorson worked at a medical clinic in Prineville and was interested in the medical side of firefighting, Wood said. She had been with the department for less than a year and had recently completed her training.

A prayer vigil was scheduled at the conference Saturday morning, and organizers set out a box for donations to Halvorson's family. She is survived by her three-year-old son.