A 38-year-old federal wildlife officer and decorated Navy veteran lost his life going door-to-door to evacuate families from a fast-moving Oklahoma wildfire, and Gov. Kevin Stitt has ordered flags lowered in his honor.

David Taylor, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer stationed at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, is believed to have died Saturday while helping residents of Indiahoma flee the Railroad South Fire in Comanche County, roughly 100 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. His last contact with dispatch came while he was helping a family leave their home. Evidence recovered from a structure led officials to believe Taylor died during the evacuation effort, Fox News reported.

Indiahoma is a town of about 275 people. The fire had burned more than 500 acres and was only 20 percent contained as of Monday morning. The cause remains under investigation.

Gov. Stitt issued a statement Monday and ordered flags flown at half-staff until sunset Friday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Taylor's death in a social media post, and agency Director Brian Nesvik released a separate statement honoring the officer's actions.

Formal identification is pending with the medical examiner, but the agency and the governor's office have publicly named Taylor and detailed the circumstances of his death.

Five deployments, 20 years of service, then one last door

Taylor, originally from Scio, Oregon, was no stranger to danger. He served on active duty with the U.S. Navy and continued in the Navy Reserve, reaching the rank of senior chief petty officer over 20 years of military service. He completed five deployments, one to Iraq and four to Djibouti in East Africa.

After his military career, Taylor joined the Fish and Wildlife Service. He served at Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, both in New Mexico, before transferring to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, the post he held when the Railroad South Fire broke out.

The country has seen a string of sudden deaths among federal employees in recent months, but Taylor's case stands apart. He did not die at a desk. He died knocking on doors in a town most Americans have never heard of, trying to get families out before the fire reached them.

Stitt: 'His courage will not be forgotten'

The governor's statement left no ambiguity about how Oklahoma views Taylor's sacrifice. Stitt said:

"Officer Taylor made the ultimate sacrifice while serving others. He put the safety of Oklahoma families ahead of his own, and his courage will not be forgotten. Sarah and I are praying for his family and his fellow officers."

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik struck a similar tone, focusing on what Taylor did in his final hours rather than on bureaucratic procedure.

"Everything we know about David's actions demonstrates extraordinary courage and selflessness. When people were in danger, David was there helping them get to safety. He remained committed to protecting others under the most dangerous circumstances."

Nesvik added: "We mourn alongside his family, friends and colleagues, and we will never forget his service."

Questions the investigation still owes the public

Several key facts remain unresolved. The exact cause and mechanism of Taylor's death have not been disclosed. The medical examiner has not yet issued a formal identification. And investigators have not said what started the Railroad South Fire in the first place.

Those answers matter, not just for Taylor's family, but for the hundreds of federal wildlife officers who work in remote, fire-prone terrain across the West and Southern Plains. Whether Taylor was acting under an official agency deployment order or responding on his own initiative is another detail the Fish and Wildlife Service has not clarified.

High-profile deaths in the line of duty tend to draw public attention briefly before fading. The discovery of a body under unusual circumstances can dominate a news cycle for days, but the follow-through, the investigation, the accountability, the policy review, often gets far less coverage.

Taylor's case deserves that follow-through. A man with five combat deployments and two decades of military service did not survive Iraq and Djibouti only to die in a small Oklahoma town without a full public accounting of what happened.

A 275-person town and the man who tried to empty it

Indiahoma sits in the dry, wind-swept country of southwest Oklahoma. With a population of roughly 275, it is the kind of place where a single officer going door-to-door could realistically reach every household. That appears to be exactly what Taylor set out to do.

His last known communication was a dispatch call while he was helping one family leave. After that, silence. The fire burned on. And when it was over, evidence recovered from a structure pointed to the worst possible outcome.

Stories of law enforcement officers and first responders who die in the course of duty rarely get the sustained attention they deserve, especially when the deaths occur far from major media markets. Taylor's sacrifice happened in a county most cable news anchors could not find on a map.

But it happened. And it cost a 38-year-old veteran his life.

Washington spends a great deal of time arguing about the federal workforce, who should be cut, who should be kept, which agencies matter. David Taylor answered that question the hard way, on a Saturday afternoon in Comanche County, with a wildfire bearing down and families still inside their homes.

The least the country owes him is to remember his name.