Tom Frith was living his dream.
The 33 year old former Dalby man and one-time Toowoomba Grammar student was at the controls of his favourite helicopter, a Bell Textron B212, helping fight massive bushfires in a remote corner of Canada this week, when it suffered a "catastrophic" engine failure and crashed to the ground.
He leaves behind a wife and two young children and a family who still can't quite believe their "handsome rascal and daredevil" has gone.
Tom's aunt, Elspeth Murray, paid tribute to her nephew on Breakfast this morning.