Category: In The News

April 7, 2023 Of the 20 injured, 15 were corrections officers and staff.

By Graham Rayman, Emma Seiwell Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Fire erupted Thursday in a Rikers Island unit that houses detainees in solitary confinement as correction officers searched for contraband while state legislators visited Rikers jails.

Twenty people were injured in the blaze, 15 of whom were treated and five of whom refused medical attention, said the Fire Department. The injured included 15 Correction Department staffers and three detainees, said a Fire Department source. The identities of the other two injured people were not immediately clear.

Most of the injuries involved smoke inhalation, said a Correction Department source. The Correction Department did not respond to requests for comment about the incident.

Trouble began Thursday morning in the North Infirmary Command, which houses the island’s sickliest detainees, said lawyer MK Kaishian, who has a client there.

“When everyone woke up, everything was normal until about 9 a.m.,” said Kaishian.

But the legislators issued a news release about their visit at around 8:30 a.m. By 9 a.m. the elected officials were starting to arrive on their surprise visit, aimed at pushing back against Gov. Hochul’s proposed bail reform rollbacks, Kaishian said.

The contraband search by the Correction Department Emergency Service Unit began around then, said Kaishian.

Kaishan said her client noted detainees’ shoes, mattresses, bed sheets, privately-purchased undershirts and underwear, and other items sent from loved ones were seized in the search.

“Everyone was very upset by the treatment. Their only worldly possessions were being taken away, and it was in retaliation because of the legislators’ visit,” Kaishian said. “They were about to get a tiny political platform, and they were getting it taken away from them.”

As it turned out, the legislators visited other Rikers units — the George R. Vierno Center and Anna M. Kross Center.

The blaze erupted around 1:35 p.m. on the North Infirmary Command’s second floor, sources said.

A Correction Department source said the blaze was set by one detainee in his cell, and that staffers tried to douse it with a fire extinguisher but then had to use a hose. The detainee who set the fire was seriously injured, the source said.

Among the detainees injured was Marvens Thomas, who in August 2021 was charged with attempted murder for attacking a correction officer who was searching his cell by flashlight, said sources. Thomas, 30, suffered severe burns in Thursday’s blaze, the sources said.

Sixty firefighters responded to the scene and brought the flames under control by 2:15 p.m. Fire marshals were still investigating the cause of the fire Thursday, FDNY said.

Kaishian said her client refers to the cells searched on Thursday as “kennels” which are unofficially used for solitary — despite promises by Correction Commissioner Louis Molina and other officials that the city has essentially phased out the use of solitary confinement.

She believes the morning search was meant to provoke an emergency that would limit the legislators’ visit.

“What happened to them [the detainees] was horrific and seemed designed to prevent people from the outside from coming in,” Kaishian said. “It’s completely unsurprising if they are manufacturing these concerns to avoid oversight.”

An internal Board of Correction report from October 2020, showed over half of the fires in city jails at the time started inside restrictive housing units, including those in the North Infirmary Command.

The Board’s discussions with DOC staff suggested detainees light the fires in an effort to get moved from restrictive cells.

They “feel they have no other way to bring attention to their concerns about conditions in the unit and feel they have no way of controlling their own lives,” the memo read.

April 7, 2023 They were originally told they would be ‘grandfathered’ in, but now they have to re-apply.

By Sherry Greenfield Source Baltimore Sun (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Several candidates for positions in the new Carroll County Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services are expressing confusion and concern about what they say are unfair testing requirements.

As part of the formation of the department, all current fire and EMS personnel who work in Carroll County have had to apply for new positions with no guarantee of getting hired.

Some current fire and EMS personnel working for volunteer departments in Carroll County say they have failed the psychological testing portion of the county’s multistep hiring process, which also includes a written exam, physical ability testing, a background investigation and an occupational physical.

This has caused frustration and anger among the fire and EMS personnel, who contend that their years of paramedic and firefighter experience should be enough to secure them a position in the new department.

In emails to county officials, Jason Jackman, who is a paid paramedic for the Westminster Volunteer Fire Department, and his wife, Nicole Jackman, who does not work in firefighting or EMS, say that having an assessment that weighs heavily on personality and life experiences is dangerous.

“Instead of focusing on individuals who have proved they could safely respond to medical or fire emergency, you end up with those who know how to answer a test, a test where a majority of the questions do not relate to the actual EMS/fire profession,” the Jackmans wrote.

The Jackmans and others have taken their frustration to social media, including special Facebook pages, to air their grievances. They contend that department Director Michael Robinson Sr., assured those already working in Carroll’s volunteer companies that they would be “grandfathered in,” and would be rehired by the county for its new department.

Robinson told the Board of Carroll County Commissioners in February 2022 during discussions on the new Department of Fire and EMS, that the psychological testing is designed to assess essential job functions of public safety personnel and predict behavioral risks and adverse outcomes.

“We intend to emulate the process of some of the other jurisdictions in the region, which includes psychological testing,” Robinson said last year. “They’ll look at areas of past history and ability to perform under duress. There is a high degree of accuracy for predicting success.”

On Tuesday the county sent an email to firefighters and paramedics who applied for a position in the new department but failed the testing. The applicants were told they would have to wait six months before retesting, but the email states that the department is providing a one-time opportunity to take the exams again.

“Carroll County Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services is striving to establish one of the premier systems in the state, region or even the country with serving and protecting residents as our number one priority,” the email states. “We set a high standard and every effort is made to not sacrifice our goals or standards regardless of challenges.

“As we navigate through this hiring process for the first time, it is only natural for us to evaluate our processes and consider improvements to our plans.”

Those who want to be reconsidered for a paramedic, firefighter/paramedic, fire apparatus driver or operator position must register and attend a mandatory refresher session on April 10 or April 12. Retests will be given on April 14 and 15 at the Carroll County Public Safety Training Center in Westminster.

“As a reminder, this is a one-time opportunity and applicants who do not successfully pass the written exam again will be subject to the six-month waiting period from the date of the retesting before they will be able to reapply for a position with [the Department of Fire and EMS],” the email states.

Jason Jackman said he failed the testing in February and was told he would have to wait six months to retest.

Though he plans on taking advantage of the opportunity to retest next week, Jackman said he is still frustrated with the hiring process, specifically the psychological testing.

“I failed the first test,” he said. “The personality part of the test got a lot of us. Basically, at this point I can go back and answer the questions against my personality.”

Robinson denied a request for an interview on this topic. Instead the county sent an email Wednesday stating that hiring for the department is an extensive multiphase process.

“As we embark on hiring our inaugural group of employees and work through the established process for the first time, it is only natural and expected for the county to evaluate our processes,” the email states. “The county, through both the Department of Fire & EMS and the Department of Human Resources, has spent over a year developing a hiring process. This process is reflective of industry standards to include several assessments that encompass an objective evaluation of candidates and validation of both their credentials and past fire & EMS experience.

“The end goal is to establish a pool of the most qualified personnel to meet the needs of Carroll County. This is an ongoing process to support our incremental hiring and deployment of personnel beginning in June 2023.”

Jackman and other fire and EMS personnel said they were told by Robinson that their jobs were secure and they would automatically be part of the new department.

“Robinson came to everyone and told us, ‘You’re not going to have to fight for your job,’” said Joel Yingling, who works as a fire truck driver and operator for the Reese Volunteer Fire Company in Westminster, and said he failed his first round of testing. “They’re losing all these good people, because of backdoor stuff, and these stupid tests.”

However, Robinson told county commissioners in May 2022 that as part of the development of the new department, all current fire and EMS personnel would have to apply for a position with no guarantee of getting hired again. He also said specifications and responsibilities for the job could change.

The county plans to hire up to 200 new personnel to staff the new department. So far 16 lieutenants have been hired and began work last month. They are now facilitating the hiring of about 134 more personnel from an applicant pool of more than 300.

Robinson told commissioners last spring that the county’s fire and EMS needs are sometimes not being met due to inconsistent staffing levels. Robinson, who became the director on Sept. 9, is charged with the overall direction, administration and evaluation of the newly established department and will plan, develop, implement and evaluate a countywide combination fire and EMS system, as well as policies and procedures.

“Our objective is to assure 24/7 fire and EMS coverage to the county,” Robinson said last year.

The push to create a combination paid and volunteer county fire service began in Carroll County more than a decade ago. In 2018, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation allowing the county to establish the new department, and, in October 2020, commissioners unanimously voted to pass an ordinance creating it.

April 6, 2023 The foundation helps families of injured and fallen wildland firefighters.

By Kate Heston Source Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, Mont. (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Apr. 6—Lucas Stacy knew of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation long before his accident, but he couldn’t have known how the foundation would come to assist him personally.

“The foundation books a ticket, they write a check, they have the ability to do that and help,” Stacy said.

One day in December 2015 while working for the Flathead Avalanche Center Stacy, along with a coworker and a volunteer, took snowmobiles into the Jewel Basin in the Swan Range. Stacy was a very experienced snowmobile rider — it was something he had been doing since he was 2 years old.

But after making a few laps to observe the area, one of the snowmobiles got stuck — something that is not out of the ordinary — and Stacy went to pull him out.

“It was a real typical thing I did during the day,” Stacy said. “We got snowmobiles stuck all the time.”

During the effort, Stacy fell, hitting his head on a log, breaking his neck. The three individuals sat in Jewel Basin for two hours before help arrived, Stacy conscious the entire time. His injuries paralyzed him from the chest down.

“My entire existence up until that point kinda had to do with my physical attributes,” Stacy said, talking about what went through his head after the accident. He knew immediately that his life, and his kid’s life — who was 2 years old at the time — would forever change.

Following the accident, Stacy came to realize the full breadth of assistance the foundation would make available.

The foundation provides immediate immediate financial assistance to the families of firefighters killed in the line of duty and assists injured firefighters and their families. The Flathead chapter, which started in 2019, is hosting their third banquet in Kalispell on April 15.

Created in Boise, Idaho after the historic 1994 fire season, the eventual foundation’s board members realized there was a great need to have emergency support services for the families of fallen firefighters. The nonprofit foundation raises the majority of it funds through a multitude of events and chapters across the country — including the Flathead Valley.

“They’ve been taking care of us as a firefighting community for almost 30 years now,” said Justin Kaber, battalion chief for the Tally Lake Ranger District and the event coordinator for the upcoming banquet.

Lincoln Chute, the fire service area manager for Flathead County’s Office of Emergency Services and a volunteer for fundraising efforts with the foundation, said the Flathead chapter is a key example of the mission of the foundation, with volunteer efforts from a multitude of firefighters and local businesses.

“This is just about as grassroots as you can get,” Chute said.

There are more than 500 individuals that fight and support wildland firefighting efforts in the Flathead Valley and local communities, according to the foundation. In the past, the foundation has assisted when a law enforcement agent was injured being bucked off a horse, when an engine captain from the Flathead needed to be flown to Seattle, or when an individual is fatally injured.

While raising the money is important for instances like those, Chute mentioned that the ideal scenario would be to never have to use it. If there are no injuries, there would be no need for the funds. But firefighting, Chute said, is a dangerous job. There are on average 19 fatalities a year, nationwide, for wildland firefighters.

LUCAS STACY GRADUATED high school in 2003 and immediately joined a fire crew at the Murphy Lake Ranger Station in the Kootenai National Forest. He continued his work every summer, while attending Western Montana University during the academic year, where he played football and graduated with a degree in wildlife biology.

In the 2008 season, Stacy joined the Flathead Hotshots: an elite group of firefighters tasked with front line firefighting across the country.

After his second season as a hotshot, Stacy got a job as a snow ranger for the winter season — he worked there from 2009-2015, the year of his accident. Stacy performed field observations and forecasted avalanches, backcountry skiing to assess the snow’s conditions. According to Stacy, it was a job he loved.

In the chaos that followed the acccident, Stacy was transferred to Craig Hospital in Colorado after six days in the intensive care unit. He was in Colorado for around six months, most of the time spent in a medical halo.

After returning back to the Flathead, Stacy was met with a multitude of hurdles — the home he owned wasn’t accessible, he was not making the money he used to, and he was adjusting to a new normal.

While the foundation helped with travel and medical efforts during the time of the accident, the help they provided a year and a half later was the help that was truly life changing.

After going through the accident and then a divorce, Stacy, wanted to go back to work. He stepped into a fire administration and business position in Hungry Horse.

In his transition back to work, Stacy lost his social security disability benefits. He was not working full time, not clocking overtime hours, and all of the sudden, money became a worry.

That’s when the Wildland Firefighter Foundation really stepped up, Stacy said, as they sent him checks to assist with bills and other finances. According to Stacy, the foundation gave him a buffer to get back to work — something that Stacy has always loved.

“[The foundation] never went away. That’s how they helped me the most,” Stacy said. “It got me back to my fire family.”

Aside from money, Stacy acknowledged the foundation’s eagerness to help — with finances or other resources, like therapy, clothing, or whatever someone would need. According to Stacy, they are always trying to help.

Now, Stacy works a dispatch role in Hungry Horse, back to clocking overtime and working with fires.

“As we see the fire realm changing and progressing, as we know fires have not gotten smaller, the need for this kind of work has just gotten more important,” Stacy said about the foundation.

The Flathead Wildland Firefighter Banquet — where Stacy and many other firefighters will be in attendance — is Saturday, April 15 at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Trade Center Building in Kalispell from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The banquet will include a barbeque dinner and a no-host bar and will consist of raffle and auction items, many of which are gifted by local businesses.

April 6, 2023 Former Frisco Chief Mark Piland didn’t want the department to look bad.

By Susan McFarland Source The Dallas Morning News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Former Frisco Fire Chief Mark Piland had to retire or be fired because he directed changes to a mayday report to make his department look better, according to public record documents that detail an outside investigation.

The investigation, done by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., found evidence that Piland directed staff to either remove information or change language in the mayday document to downplay inadequacies, which also caused distrust within the department, the public records, obtained by The Dallas Morning News, reveal.

As a result of investigation, City Manager Wes Pierson determined a new leader was needed and, according to documents, communicated such to Piland on Sept. 7, 2022. The same day, Piland was placed on administrative leave.

“Based upon the information available to me, in my judgment, I do not believe Mark is the person that can effectively resolve the trust and other issues that exist in the department,” Pierson wrote in a memorandum about Piland, who had been chief for nine years. “Accordingly, I believe it is time for a change in leadership in the fire department.”

The city of Frisco announced Piland’s retirement Sept. 14, citing he is ready to pursue new career opportunities. He is currently running for mayor.

The mayday report was requested by Piland after a firefighter fell through a roof during a Frisco apartment fire that lasted more than 36 hours during the February 2021 ice storm. The firefighter was one of four injured during the blaze. One resident was also injured during the event, which became known as the Circa Fire in investigation reports.

Piland’s attorney Christopher Ayres said in an emailed statement to The News, “In September of 2022, Chief Piland chose to retire because his vision for the Frisco Fire Department did not align with Mr. Pierson’s vision, as city manager. Mr. Pierson accepted chief’s retirement, even expressing ‘appreciation’ and gratitude for chief’s ‘contribution’ in his near decade of service to the city. Any suggestion to the contrary, including that chief Piland was fired for misconduct or otherwise, is not accurate.”

In the memorandum, Pierson writes another issue regarding the need for a new fire chief was that Piland was not supposed to discuss the outside investigation with anyone and was directed on multiple occasions not to do so, but did anyway, according to public records.

“Despite the directives, Mark met with Mayor Jeff Cheney on 6/3/22 and during the meeting raised issues with the motivation for the investigation, the subject of the investigation, and whether the investigation should even be occurring,” Pierson wrote in the memo, citing an additional outside investigation that found Piland violated a breach of confidentiality.

Piland, in a response letter to Pierson, said, “Allegations that edits to the mayday report were done to mislead or falsify matters are outrageous and without evidence,” according to public record documents.

The former fire chief said the department suffered because “external investigators became more interested in apparently casting blame than discovering the real lessons that already existed in the final mayday report.”

Piland’s response said, “Suspicion ran rampant of who would be targeted, thereby impeding the ability of command staff to lead, and rendered the firefighters functioning in a potentially distracted manner while performing their services to the citizens of Frisco.

“Strain was also brought into the relationship I had with the city manager’s office when I attempted to relay the dysfunction that appeared because of those matters. I was placed under a gag order not to discuss it, effectively impeding good city government attempts to implement the mayday report’s lessons.

“Matters were so strained that I was forced to actually speak to the mayor about the untenable position, yet having to explain to him I could not discuss any substantive matters, only the effects of the process being so disruptive that it was fracturing the department. Even trying my best to tiptoe on a razor’s edge because of simply talking to the mayor. I am now apparently branded as disloyal,” Piland wrote.

The investigation into the breach of confidentiality states that Piland’s meeting with Cheney was not a normal meeting in the scope of business, not a situation where the investigation came up by mistake or was accidental, and Piland talked about the investigation “knowingly and with intent.”

“The purpose of the meeting, initiated by chief Piland was to discuss the investigation,” according to the report. “Piland improperly asked Mayor Cheney to keep the conversation confidential.”

During the investigation by Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., 42 witnesses were interviewed, and documents, photographs, audio and video files were analyzed. Multiple times the investigation report notes that Piland had a conflict of interest and should not have been involved in the mayday report process, because his decisions were being reviewed and critiqued.

The mayday report, required when an injury occurs during an emergency, went through five revisions.

Piland downplayed his involvement to investigators claiming he only sat in on one meeting and had little association with changes to the report. He said other than the first draft, he did not look at any of the versions until the final draft.

“That statement does not appear to be credible. Chief Piland’s statements about his involvement with the editing process and the changes made are not consistent with how witnesses described the way Piland operates – his demeanor and actions and the way he was described by multiple witnesses demonstrate he oversees everything and keeps track of everything,” the investigation detailed.

Assistant Chief Cameron Kraemer told investigators Piland had input on several sections of the report.

“It was clear from the interviews and evidence that Assistant Chief Kraemer took the lead role in overseeing the editorial process of the mayday report. However, it was also clear that Assistant Chief Kraemer was acting at the direction of, and on the instructions of, Chief Piland,” Adams, Lynch & Loftin, P.C., investigators wrote in the report.

The most “glaring examples” of changes to the report that put Piland’s decisions in a better light is language added to the final draft about the availability of an initial rapid intervention team (IRIT), a designated crew that serves as a stand-by rescue team of any missing, trapped, injured or unaccounted for firefighter(s).

The changes to the final draft related to the IRIT did not have the benefit of a review prior to insertion, and in doing so put command decisions in a “much better light than had previously been present in the mayday report,” the investigation explained.

“This was done in an effort to package the report with an obvious result of that packaging being the avoidance of shedding a bad light on the fire department,” according to the report.

Other examples include removing statements about fatigued firefighters. The initial mayday report stated that for 36 hours prior to the fire, Frisco firefighters were operating “with minimal opportunities for rest due to exponentially high call volume.”

“The removal of this language avoided shedding a bad light on the decision to answer water break calls which stressed Frisco FD resources almost to the breaking point. The initial and later drafts of the mayday report omitted facts that would have conveyed the severity of the near-miss that necessitated the mayday in the first place.

“For example, the report did not include information on the fact that Captain Beck fell through the floor to his chest and that other firefighters placed themselves at considerable personal risk to rescue him,” according to the report.

Piland signed a settlement agreement with the city, which asked him to submit his resignation on Sept. 14, effective Sept. 21, according to public records.

The agreement stated that Piland would be paid a lump sum of one year’s pay and accrued leave up to 1,200 hours. The agreement also stated he would not apply for employment with the city, absent a specific written agreement with the city manager.

Assistant fire chief Lee Glover is serving as interim chief, and a search for Piland’s replacement is underway.

April 5, 2023 Lt. Jan Tchoryk, 55, died Wednesday about 28 hours after FF Jermaine Pelt, 49, perished.

By Richard Requena , Deanese Williams-Harris, Rosemary Sobol, Jake Sheridan and Adriana Pérez Source Chicago Tribune (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

CHICAGO — A firefighter died Wednesday battling a Gold Coast blaze, marking the Chicago Fire Department’s second line-of-duty death in just two days.

Lt. Jan Tchoryk, 55, died as he led a ladder crew trying to put out a high-rise fire. Two other firefighters were injured, the Fire Department said.

“To have two go down this way, back-to-back, it’s very hard on the members. It’s very hard on command. It’s just very hard,” CFD spokesman Larry Langford said.

Tchoryk, a veteran firefighter, was guiding the Tower Ladder 10 crew up the stairs as it responded to the 8 a.m. fire in a large apartment on the 27th floor of 1212 N. DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

A “mayday” alert went out after Tchoryk “went down” as he worked the scene, Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said. Tchoryk had been on the stairs because the building’s elevators were not functioning and he collapsed on the 11th floor, Nance-Holt said.

It was not immediately clear what caused his death, she said. Langford said the fatal collapse was possibly the result of a “medical emergency.”

“The wind didn’t help us,” Nance-Holt said. “The wind drew the fire.”

Tchoryk had worked for the department for about 25 years. He also served in Desert Storm and had a big family, including a rookie Chicago police officer son, she said.

“He was an active outdoorsman, a motorcyclist and a Navy veteran,” Nance-Holt said.

Tchoryk was taken to the building’s lobby after his collapse and rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

A procession carried his body from the hospital to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, 2121 W. Harrison St., on Wednesday afternoon. Police cars blocked off Ogden Avenue intersections as fire trucks and other emergency vehicles drove in a line, their red, white and blue lights flashing.

Outside the building, an American flag hung from two outstretched fire truck ladders for the second time in two days. Somber ranks of police officers and firefighters waited once again for an ambulance carrying a fellow first responder’s body.

The body of firefighter Jermaine Pelt, 49, had been brought to the same spot a day before after Pelt died Tuesday in an extra-alarm West Pullman fire.

Blue ribbons put up weeks ago to mark the early March line-of-duty death of Chicago police Officer Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso were still tied to the trees, poles and fences around the building.

Of the two firefighters injured in the Wednesday fire, one has been released from the hospital and the other has been transferred to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where his condition is serious but not life-threatening, Langford said. Two civilians were also injured in the Wednesday fire.

Tchoryk was a “real likable guy that had a smile on his face most of the time,” Langford said. He spent most of his career on the Tower Ladder 10 team, becoming a “fixture” and a “fire family member” on the crew, he said.

“It’s like losing a close member of your family,” Langford said, noting firefighters often live together for days at a time.

Langford said he and his colleagues could not recall a time when two firefighters had died in separate back-to-back fires.

“It just doesn’t happen. But today, it did,” he said.

The two deaths are “unprecedented,” Nance-Holt said.

“I can’t tell you how this impacts us, losing two members in two days,” she said. “As I said yesterday, this job is dangerous. You never know if you’re coming home despite the training and the equipment that we can provide.”

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said in a tweet, “I am deeply saddened to hear Chicago lost another heroic first responder today, the second first responder lost in two days. It’s heartbreaking and our city mourns for those who put their lives on the line to protect us all.”

By 8:45 a.m., all firefighters at the scene were accounted for.

By 9:30 a.m., the fire had been put out and officials confirmed it was confined to one apartment on the 27th floor, which did not have sprinklers.

Alderman Timothy Knudsen, 43rd, said he would be working with the Gold Coast Neighborhood Association to find housing for people displaced by the fire.

The building, built in 1970, has 35 floors, according to online information.

Records from the Chicago Department of Buildings show that the Gold Coast high-rise was cited last year for allowing bushes and shrubbery to obstruct an exterior fire hose connection.

Late Wednesday, Amelia Ramos and Hector Contreras, who have lived across the street from Tower Ladder 10 in the Near North Side for about 15 years, remembered Tchoryk fondly.

Children in their family would often visit the firefighters at the station, 548 W. Division St., and bring them baked goods.

”The door was always open,” Contreras said. “Jon would always come down and say hello.”

Contreras knew Tchoryk as a “very kind person, very loving.”

Being the parents of a firefighter themselves, Ramos and Contreras said they appreciate the bravery of first responders who put themselves in danger to save others’ lives.

Contreras said he was appalled to learn of the new tragic death so soon after Chicago firefighter Pelt died in Tuesday’s West Pullman fire. “It hurts,” he said.

Pelt served for 18 years as a member of Engine 75.

He had been called at 3:30 a.m. to a frame house in the 12000 block of South Wallace Street, where a fire destroyed the second floor and attic.

Officials said the fire spread to homes north and south of the building and Pelt, a Corliss High School graduate who attended Olive-Harvey College, went down on a hose line.

Pelt was born and raised in the West Pullman neighborhood, the same area where he devoted his adult life to help others as a firefighter, said his father, John Pelt.

The youngest of four sons, Jer was smart, ambitious and “the kindest person I’ve ever met,” his father said. He had walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding last fall.