REISTERSTOWN, Md. — One year ago, volunteer firefighter Gene Kirchner was critically injured battling a house fire; he died eight days later from his injuries. The Baltimore County Fire Department has just released the results of his death investigation report.
Firefighter Kirchner, 25, was with the Reisterstown Volunteer Company for nine years and had run more than 3,000 calls, CBS Baltimore reported. Firefighter Kirchner, who later died from thermal wounds and smoke inhalation, was trying to rescue a man from a house fire the night he was injured.
In the report, Kirchner’s equipment was found to be in working order, but documents reveal he was not wearing his face piece, helmet or hood when found unconscious and that his air tank was turned off.
“The only person that’s going to be able to tell us 100 percent what happened unfortunately laid his life down for someone else in the community,” said Fire Chief Bob Murray.
Chief Murray believes the 14 recommendations outlined in the report could save lives.
“As a company what can we do different, admin, training equipment, lessons learned,” he said.