Forestry Plane Crashes

May 12, 1996, 9:54 a.m. EDT

A firefighter died on his way to combat a blaze in an Onslow County forest Saturday.

Gerald Sundtrom was flying a small forestry service plane to the site of the fire when the craft went down shortly after take-off from Kinston.

Rescue crews rushed to the downed plane but were unable to save Sundtrom.

Sundtrom was from Edenton