By Tess Kenny
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — A 30-year member of the Chicago Fire Department died Thursday afternoon during a training exercise on the city’s Far North Side, according to fire officials.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the member as 61-year-old Steven Decker. According to city human resources data, Decker was a fire engineer with CFD.
The department announced the death in a statement to social media early Thursday evening, writing CFD “mourns the loss” of their member.
Reached briefly over the phone, department spokesperson Larry Merritt said the exercise was taking place in the 6600 block of North Kedzie Avenue in the West Ridge neighborhood just after 3 p.m. Decker was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he died.
Merritt couldn’t speak to whether the death was tied to the exercise. When asked about the nature of the exercise, Merritt also declined to comment.
Ald. Debra Silverstein, 50th, in a statement, said that Decker’s “sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
“Engineer Decker served the Chicago Fire Department with honor and education since 1997, spending nearly three decades protecting others,” she said. “This is a devastating loss. … Every day, firefighters put themselves in harm’s way to protect our city. Their courage, dedication, and service do not go unnoticed.”
Chicago police, in a statement to social media, said the department “stands in support of our brothers and sisters at the Chicago Fire Department as they mourn the loss of one of their own.”
A procession was scheduled to take place from St. Francis to the Cook County medical examiner’s office on Thursday evening.
The death is the department’s second in recent months, following fourth-generation CFD firefighter Michael Altman, who died in March after suffering critical injuries at the scene of a fire in Rogers Park.
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