Fire department specialist Arnaldo Quinones and Captain Tedmund Hall.
(Photos courtesy L.A. County Fire Department)

Two Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters who died Sunday in the Angeles National Forest were in a truck that veered off the road into an 800-foot canyon, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a statement.

Captain Tedmund Hall and fire fighter specialist Arnaldo Quinones were assigned to Camp 16 near Mount Gleason when a rapidly approaching fire forced the firefighters to evacuate. But in the scramble to move their vehicle out of the path of the flames, it tumbled into the canyon.

An investigation is pending, said a National Forest Service spokesman.

"They were loved by everybody," said John Bishop, second vice president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1014 union. "The families are devastated."

The union is in contact with the department about the incident and the investigation, the union said on its website, noting it is also part of the Serious Accident Review Team.

Hall, 47, served for 26 years at the department and was a resident of Hesperia, according to the department. He joined the department as a student worker in 1981 and had worked at Camp 16 for eight years. Hall leaves behind a wife and two sons, ages 21 and 20, the department said.

Quinones, 35, of Palmdale, worked in the department for eight years, beginning in 1998. He is survived by his wife, who is expecting their first child.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised Hall and Quinones Monday, saying, "Of course, they are my great heroes."