The employer of a man who died while fighting the 2016 Soberanes Fire has been found guilty in Monterey County Superior Court of not carrying workers’ compensation insurance.

The employer, Ian Czirban, also was found guilty of two counts of willfully failing to file a payroll tax return and one count of filing a false document, KQED reported. Judge Andrew Liu announced the verdict on Wednesday.

The worker, Robert Oliver Reagan III, 35, was driving a bulldozer around a steep slope during the Soberanes fire when the vehicle rolled over, ejecting Reagan and crushing him.

Czirban, of Czirban Concrete Construction in Madera County, contended that Reagan was working as an independent contractor. Cal Fire had contracted with the concrete company.

Reagan’s widow, Morgan Kemple, and his two children struggled following his death, partly due to Czirban Concrete’s lack of a valid workers’ comp policy, KQED said.

Kemple told the news outlet that she hopes the verdict “opens Cal Fire’s eyes.”

Following Reagan’s death, two other heavy equipment contractors — whose employers reportedly did not have workers’ comp coverage — died while working with state fire crews on large blazes.

"Their contractors are repetitively claiming to have no employees. There needs to be a change, and I sincerely hope this creates needed change," Kemple said.