Volunteer killed on way to school

By Alex Bloom
The Charlotte Observer

WEDDINGTON, N.C. — The Union County volunteer firefighter who died in a crash Saturday while responding to a false alarm went too fast through a curve in the road, authorities said.

But fire officials said the alarm Todd Hage was responding to should have been turned off.

Hage, 43, was heading to New Town Elementary School when his truck overturned and hit a tree.

Wesley Chapel Volunteer Fire Department Chief Terry Byrum said firefighters responded to two false alarms Thursday at the school, which is under construction, and asked construction workers to turn off the alarm. Sanding of concrete caused the false alarms, he said.

John Monteith of Monteith Construction, the general contractor on the project, confirmed Sunday that the fire department asked the site superintendent to keep the fire alarm in test mode when construction activities were ongoing. But, he said, the alarm had to be kept in normal mode when no activity was taking place. He did not know whether work was being done at 4:30 p.m. Saturday when the alarm went off.

Union schools spokeswoman Luan Ingram did not return a phone call Sunday.

Hage was traveling south on Waxhaw-Indian Trail Road less than a half-mile from the station when he ran off the right side of the road at a curve, said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper P.D. Smith. Hage came back on the road and went left of the center line. He then overcorrected and the truck ran off the right side of the road again, striking an embankment, Smith said.

Smith said Hage went too fast through the curve. The speed limit is 45 mph, and the curve has a caution sign suggesting 35 mph. Hage was wearing a seatbelt.

Wesley Chapel firefighters Aaron Drye and Matt Stallings, who arrived a few seconds after the crash, said they never thought they would lose one of their own.

Stallings said that Hage always helped out. At a recent cookout, he washed dishes for hours.

"Anything you needed, he was always willing to serve," Stallings said, "whether it was grunt work or something fun."

Drye said that Hage joked a lot. Hage liked to greet everyone the same way:

"'I love you man.' Every time. He'd point at you. You better say it back or he'd be mad."

Hage's younger brother, Brian, said Todd cared deeply for fellow firefighters.

"For the last two years, he spoke continuously about the community here, about the leadership he encountered here, about the work ethic and the values and the people here," said Brian, of Atlanta. "To encounter this now firsthand and gradually learn what he was talking about ... They've earned my respect."

Todd worked in the financial services industry and left behind a wife and two daughters, ages 9 and 12. Hage started firefighting in April 2006 and was named the 2006 Rookie Firefighter of the Year.

Hage was also a Navy veteran. Retired Capt. Bill Williams, Hage's commanding officer on the USS Cunningham from 1989 to 1990, said Hage was the most professional young officer ever under his command.

"I think it's pretty safe to say that, from my perspective, Todd Hage was born to serve," Williams said. "If it wasn't his country and his government and his Navy, it was his community — and he died serving his community."

Funeral arrangements
Arrangements were announced Monday morning for Todd Hage, the Wesley Chapel firefighter who was killed Saturday.

Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church of Indian Trail, 732 Fairview Road, in Indian Trail. The funeral will be held immediately afterward, at 11:30 a.m.

Following the funeral, a firefighters' procession will proceed to Heritage Funeral and Cremation Services, 3700 Forest Lawn Drive, in Matthews, for burial.

Additional information is available at the Wesley Chapel Volunteer Fire Department Web site -- www.wesleychapelvfd.com.

Copyright 2007 The Charlotte Observer
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