WEST COLUMBIA — Family members and members of the New Haven Volunteer Fire Department are mourning the death of a firefighter who died in a car accident Saturday on Lieving Road near Sassafras Road in West Columbia.

Carlett E. McClanahan Jr., 27, of Letart, was killed when his vehicle struck a utility pole, according to the Mason County Sheriff’s Department. Around 12:40 a.m., McClanahan was driving his 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix east on Lieving Road when he went off the roadway and struck a utility pole.

Members of the Mason Volunteer Fire Department and Mason County Emergency Medical Services responded to the accident scene as well as Deputy Terry Powell.

McClanahan was pronounced dead at the scene before being taken to the Pleasant Valley Hospital morgue. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

A 10-year veteran of the New Haven VFD, McClanahan was a certified firefighter serving in the department’s coverage district, according to Chief Stephen Duncan.

“He will be missed,” Duncan added.

McClanahan was a furnace operator for Fellman Corp. and was a member of the United Steelworkers Local No. 5171. Among the survivors is his wife and two children.

It was the second fatality in Mason County in three days after a Putnam County man was killed in a three-vehicle accident on U.S. 35 near the county line last Thursday.

According to the West Virginia State Police report, Stanley M. Gray Jr., 44, of Winfield, was driving his 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser east on U.S. 35 when a deer wandered into the road and was struck by the car.

After hitting the deer, Gray lost control and crossed the center line into the path of a Swift Transportation Inc. 2006 Volvo tractor-trailer, which was driven by 49-year-old Evon L. Gray of Pennsylvania. The car hit the tractor-trailer head-on.

The impact forced the tractor-trailer off the roadway and caused the truck part to go over an embankment, leaving the trailer blocking both lanes of U.S. 35. The PT Cruiser was forced back into the eastbound lane, where it then struck a 1998 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck driven by Charles K. Ellis of Pliny.

That accident happened around 6:30 p.m. Stanley Gray was pronounced dead at the scene.