Chief Walter Walker Jr., of the Collinsville (Miss.) Volunteer Fire Department died while responding to a motor vehicle accident on Saturday. He was 68 years old and had more than 30 years of service.

Walker lost control of his vehicle on a wet road at 1:30 p.m. and struck a tree. The coroner said he died upon impact. According to U.S. Fire Administration statistics, Walker is the 11th firefighter to die in the line of duty this year. At this pace, there will be more than 130 line-of-duty deaths in 2008; there were 115 such deaths in 2007.