By Matt Hubbard
Baltimore Sun
BURTONSVILLE, Md. — A Montgomery County firefighter died after battling a house fire in Laurel on Saturday night.
The firefighter was identified as 47-year-old Chris Higgins, a 22-year veteran with Montgomery Fire & Rescue Service, by Chief Corey Smedley.
Higgins was a father of two and a husband, Smedley said during a news conference Sunday. He said he understood Higgins to be “a pretty quiet guy, but he was a serious guy about his work.”
Higgins died after fighting a house fire in a mutual-aid operation in the 15000 block of Bradford Drive.
Smedley said at another news conference Saturday that an “emergency within an emergency” occurred while crews were battling the Prince George’s County fire. Higgins collapsed, prompting resuscitation efforts, according to a Facebook post from the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department. He was transported to a regional hospital, where he succumbed to his condition, Smedley said.
Citing an ongoing investigation, Smedley did not clarify what resulted in Higgins’ death. The Office of the State Fire Marshal posted on the social media platform X that a K-9 and handler from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Baltimore field division had been deployed to the scene.
Escorted by dozens of emergency response vehicles, the Burtonsville station 15 firefighter was transported to the medical examiner’s office in Baltimore.
Videos posted to X by Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Assistance spokesperson Francisco Martinez show emergency response vehicles lining overpass bridges with their lights on in honor of Higgins.
Outside his service with Montgomery County Fire & Rescue, Higgins served as a volunteer firefighter with Anne Arundel County’s Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company, Anne Arundel County Police posted on X.
“He was just an overall good person,” Smedley said Sunday. “Not only was he a mentor here in the department; it was in his blood to serve his community.”
©2025 Baltimore Sun.
Visit baltimoresun.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
