Memorial service for fallen firefighter scheduled for Friday

A memorial service will be held Friday inMurrieta for Riverside County firefighter Christopher Douglas, who was struckby a pickup truck last Friday in Thousand Palms, it was announced today.

The service will begin at 3 p.m. Friday at The Bridge Church, 38801Calistoga Drive, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

The 41-year-old Temecula resident was struck by a Ford F-150 on theshoulder of eastbound Interstate 10 at the Monterey Avenue on-ramp about 9:40a.m. Friday, where his engine truck was stopped.

Douglas, an apparatus engineer and paramedic, had been driving theengine and was struck by the pickup when he got out of the rig, according toCalifornia Highway Patrol Officer Stephanie Hamilton.

Douglas, an eight-year Riverside County Fire Department veteran based inThousand Palms, was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs,where he died about three hours later.

Douglas and his crew had been responding to a rollover crash on I-10near Washington Street, and officials have not said why the engine stopped onthe Monterey on-ramp.