The United States Fire Administration has received notice of the following 5 firefighter fatalities in the month of November:
Name: Alfred A. Stewart Fire Department: West Milford VFD Age: 79 Incident Description: Firefighter Stewart reported to the fire station for a company drill. He remained alone at the station to perform maintenance duties while other company members |
attended the drill. At some point, Stewart ascended a ladder inside the station for these maintenance duties. When fire department personnel returned from the drill, they found Stewart entangled in the fallen ladder. Despite lifesaving efforts, Steward was pronounced dead shortly |
thereafter. It is unknown whether Stewart suffered a medical emergency while atop the ladder and then fell, or if the ladder had fallen while he was on it, causing his trauma. An autopsy is |
pending to determine the official cause of Firefighter Stewart’s death |
On November 6, 79 y/o Firefighter Alfred Stewart of the West Milford VFD located in New Jersey died in the LOD
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Name: Michael Payne Fire Department: Brookston Prairie Township VFD Rank: Fire Chief Age: 58 |
Status: Volunteer Years of Service: 25 |
Incident Description: Chief Michael Payne and members of his department responded to a truck fire on Interstate-65 north of Lafayette, IN, just before midnight on 11/07/2016. After the fire |
was extinguished, Chief Payne fell ill and collapsed. Lifesaving efforts were initiated and Chief Payne was transported to Indiana University Hospital (Lafayette) where those efforts continued until he passed away at approximately 0145hrs on 11/08/2016. |
On November 7, 58 y/o Fire Chief Michael Payne of the Brookston Prairie Township VFD located in Indiana died in the LOD
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Name: Michael W. Curry Rank: Master Firefighter Status: Career
Fire Department: Savannah Fire & EMS Age: 42
Years of Service: 13
Date of Incident: 11/19/2016 Incident Description: Master Firefighter Curry was involved in operations at an emergency incident on River Street late Saturday afternoon when he suffered an apparent medical condition. Emergency medical personnel attended to Curry on the scene and were escorted in their transport |
of the firefighter to Memorial University Medical Center. Curry passed away at the hospital Saturday evening. |
On November 19, 42 y/o Firefighter Michael Curry of the Savannah FD located in Georgia died in the LOD
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Name: Ted Rodney Collett Fire Department: Red Bird Volunteer Fire / Rescue Rank: Firefighter Age: 41 |
Status: Volunteer Years of Service: Pending Date of Incident: 10/29/2016 Date of Death: 11/17/2016 |
Incident Description: Firefighter Collett suffered head and arm injuries on October 29th while working a wildland fire incident when a tree limb fell and struck him and the fire apparatus he |
was on. Firefighter Collett was airlifted to Pikeville Medical Center for treatment but succumbed to his injuries the evening of November 17th. |
On November 17, 41 y/o Firefighter Ted Collett of the Red Bird VFD located in Kentucky died in the LOD
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Name: Merle L. Nell Fire Department: Volunteer Fire Co. of Vernon Age: 78 Incident Description: After becoming ill while working on a mutual aid fire call with his fire |
department, Fire Police Captain Nell passed away in the hospital from a nature and cause of fatal injury still to be reported. |
On November 26, 78 y/o Fire Police Captain of the Volunteer Fire Company of Vernon FD located in New York died in the LOD
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To date 77 firefighter fatalities have been reported to The United States Fire Administration in 2016, May They Rest In Peace.
