Allen Donalen of Fire Authority Dead at 35

Allen Donalen was “a firefighter’s firefighter,” and his abrupt death Sunday morning at age 35 stunned his many friends and colleagues at the Orange County Fire Authority.

A popular department employee of a decade who was assigned to Tustin Station No. 21, Donalen was found dead about 7:30 a.m. in his bed at Chapman Medical Center in Orange, where he had undergone back surgery Saturday to correct an on-the-job injury of several months ago, said Capt. Scott Brown, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority.

“We’re all very, very numb right now,” said Brown, who was a friend of Donalen’s. “Right now, it’s a shock. It saddens the entire Fire Authority. Allen was a respected, tenured member of the Orange County firefighting family.”

Donalen apparently died in the morning hours before a hospital employee checked on him, Brown said. Pending an autopsy, it was assumed that Donalen died of surgery complications, Brown added.

It was not immediately known exactly when and how Donalen suffered his injury other than that his treatment was part of a worker’s compensation case opened several months ago, Brown said.

He said Donalen loved his job and that he was also involved with the Fire Department at Disneyland. County Fire Chief Charles “Chip” Prather spent part of Sunday with Donalen’s family, including his widow, Cara. The Assn. of Orange County Professional Firefighters and the Orange County Firefighters Benevolent Assn. are providing for the family’s immediate needs, Brown said.

“Allen was a firefighter’s firefighter and one we would have our rookies aspire to,” Brown said Sunday night, “He was an integral part of operation, actively involved in his community, with his family and with the Explorer program. . . . He was very passionate about his profession and avocation. His loss is indescribable.”