Community Memorial Service Planned For Late Calaveras Firefighter
Angels Camp, CA — 19-year-old TJ Wennhold tragically died in a crash on January 15 on Mountain Ranch Road near the intersection of Rocky Road.
He was on his way to his shift that morning at the Central Calaveras Fire and Rescue Protection District when his pickup truck crashed and overturned.
Wennhold started his fire service career as a 15-year-old cadet with CCFRPD, he graduated high school in June of 2023, and was working on dual degrees in Fire Science and Emergency Medical Services (and was set to graduate from Columbia College in the Spring of 2025).
His father is the CCFRPD Fire Chief, Bill Wennhold, and his mother is an RN at Mark Twain Medical Center.
A community funeral service will be this Saturday, January 25, promptly at noon, in the Mark Twain Hall at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp. There will be open seating, and fire service personnel will be wearing their Class A or B uniforms. Fire apparatus will be parked out front.
The family requests in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the Thomas James (TJ) Wennhold Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Central Calaveras Firefighters Association, PO Box 533, Mountain Ranch, CA 95246.
