GRAYSON COUNTY, Ky. — A volunteer firefighter died when her van hit a tree and burst into flames Tuesday.
WLKY reported that Jessica Logsdon, 27, a member of the East Grayson County Volunteer Fire Department for two years, was going to have the brakes on her van worked on when she lost control on a curve. The van went off an embankment and slammed head on into a tree.
Her fellow firefighters responded to the wreck a quarter-mile from the station.
“By the time I got there the van was pretty much in flames,” Assistant Chief Keith Shellhart said.
They were unaware the person’s life they were trying to save was Logsdon’s.
“I didn’t realize who it was until I got a chance to walk behind the van and I saw the canine sticker on the vehicle and that is when I realized it was Jessica,” Chief Shellhart said. “I assume her brakes failed. I don’t know that, but there’s a real sharp curve and she couldn’t take the curve. I don’t think speed was a factor.”
Logsdon and her husband helped start Grayson County’s first official K-9 search and rescue unit. Her husband said she was driven to start the unit after losing a baby years ago, according to the report.
“She was one of those kind of people you think you’ve known all your life,” said Bob Williams, the chief of East Grayson County’s Fire Department. “We had a young man that went missing a couple different times, the same person, and they helped with that search.”
An honor guard will be held Friday at Cross Point Church in Leitchfield, Ky. from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dog teams from across the state will also be in attendance.
A second honor guard will be Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Cross Point Church, 300 Mill Street before Logsdon is laid to rest.