Retired battalion chief who worked with fallen pilot visits Hollister

It was a somber ride from Yosemite Valley all the way to Hollister for retired Batallion Chief Ken French, who worked closely with fallen CalFire pilot Craig Hunt.

“Well, he was just one of the greats, you know, every time the wheels went up out there, you pray that they come back,” said French.

But this time, Hunt didn’t make it back. Investigators believe he was heading back to Hollister from Yosemite National Forest after dropping a load of retardant. Hunt was part of the crews dispatched to help fight the Dog Rock Fire.

Hunt had done so hundreds of times before, and investigators are trying to determine what caused his air tanker to hit a canyon wall and go down.

“He’s with God, that’s all I can say,” French said.

While Hunt’s colleagues are working with grief counselors, French wanted to make sure he was by their side.

“I worked with him a lot, so I just felt that I needed to come here and show my support to my fellow brothers,” said French, who now lives in the Yosemite area.

“He would love to call me The Frenchman,” said French. “Now I don’t know why, my last name is French, maybe that had something to do with it, but every time I came in he’d say ‘here comes the Frenchman’ and I used to tell him ‘it’s Chief Frenchman to you,’ but that didn’t work.”