Acting State Fire Commissioner Charles McGarvey offered condolences and urged residents to step up prevention efforts.
Source Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa. (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Dec. 9—Acting State Fire Commissioner Charles McGarvey said four line of duty deaths of firefighters in the past week in Pennsylvania underscore the importance and the value of taking fire risks seriously.
“We would like to extend our condolences to their colleagues and families for the loss of their loved ones. Our office has reached out to the appropriate local authorities to offer assistance,” he was quoted in a press release that noted the death of two firefighters from New Tripoli on Wednesday in West Penn Twp.
He said in separate cases last week, a firefighter was struck while directing traffic and a second experienced a heart attack after having responded to an incident.
The man struck was Kurt Keilhofer of the Mapleton Fire Department in Huntington County, according to a news release from Gov. Tom Wolf’s office. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said volunteer firefighter Nicholas A. Theofilis, 23, died Nov. 28 “after a heart attack and ambulance crash.”
The deaths “draw attention to a deeply troubling trend of rising line of duty deaths,” McGarvey’s news release said.
Residents can help firefighters limit their risk by ensuring homes are equipped with functioning smoke detectors, having an escape plan and practicing it with their entire families, and once out of a burning structure, not going back in, McGarvey said.
Likewise, the firefighting community cannot become complacent, he said, noting training opportunities exist to mitigate many of the risks associated with “our dangerous line of work.”
He urged motorists to drive safely near the scene of emergency incidents.