Each year, first responders across the peninsula pause for a moment on December 3 to remember fellow firefighter and paramedic Cameron Carter who was lost in an aircraft incident on this day in 2007.
Shawn Killian: “He was a great, kind, honorable guy. I mean he’d basically give you the shirt off his back to help you out. A great sense of humor, basically a big kid.”
Paramedic Engineer Shawn Killian with Central Emergency Services worked with the 24-year-old medic. On December 3, 2007, Carter, two LifeMed crew members, and a patient disappeared near Whittier on the helicopter while traveling from Cordova.
Despite a seven-day search after the accident, only one body was recovered, that of 47-year-old flight nurse John Stumpff. The helicopter’s pilot, 42-year-old Lance Brabham, and the patient, 60-year-old Gaye McDowell of Cordova, were never found.
Killian says probably around half of the current CES crew along with other local firefighters and hospital workers take time around 5:00 pm December 3 each year to share stories and sometimes have a toast.
Killian: “We’ll go up to the helipad and usually have a moment of silence or some individuals will go to local establishments.”
A scholarship fund was also set up through the UAA paramedic program in Carter’s honor.
Below is a video put together by someone who knew Carter:
