Tag Archives: Fire Chief Craig Warren
‘A friend to everybody’: Sitka man killed in bear mauling remembered by colleagues
Tad Fujioka was an avid outdoorsman whose love of fishing led him to trade the engineering field for the commercial trolling one. But Fujioka, whose body was found Wednesday north of Sitka following search and rescue efforts, the victim of a bear mauling, is being remembered less for what he did and more for the type of person he was. “I mean, everybody that knew him, liked him,” said longtime friend and colleague, Norman Pillen, president of Seafood Producers Cooperative (SPC) in Sitka. Fujioka was the board chair for SPC and a big advocate for the commercial fishing industry. He was a strong family man and man of many talents, Pillen said. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:04
A major fisheries advocate, Sitkan Tad Fujioka found dead in apparent bear mauling
The call that Tad Fujioka was overdue could not have come at a worse time. On the evening of October 29, Sitka and the outer coast of Southeast were being lashed by a windstorm, with some gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour. Fire Chief Craig Warren says Air Station Sitka launched a helicopter, nevertheless, equipped with Forward-Looking-Infrared (FLIR), to search an area about ten miles north of Sitka in Nakwasina Sound. Fujioka was believed to be returning to an area where he had shot a deer on Monday in much better weather and had cached part of the carcass. The shock reverberated quickly around Sitka. Norm Pillen is the President of Seafood Producers Cooperative, where Fujioka was board chair. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:47
Skipper rescued by girlfriend on an air mattress after falling overboard off Sitka
A fishing boat reportedly departed Sitka’s Eliason Harbor northbound earlier in the morning, with the skipper at the wheel and the deckhand below asleep. Once clear of the breakwater, the skipper put the vessel on autopilot and stepped on deck to wash the windows. A few miles north of the harbor at Magic Island, the skipper’s girlfriend came down to the beach to wave. “His partner was waving him off on the beach there,” said Fire Chief Craig Warren, who responded to the accident. His partner had to go out with, it sounded like almost an inflatable air mattress, The fishing boat continued northbound under autopilot for about five miles before it ran aground in Eastern Bay. >click to read< 16:50
