Tuesday, January 13, 2015

BEL AIR PARAMEDIC ERIK STECIAK STRUCK, KILLED BY A FIRE DEPARTMENT UTILITY TRUCK ASSISTING HIM AT THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT. INDICATIONS POINT TO WEATHER BEING A MAJOR FACTOR IN THIS TRAGIC ACCIDENT.



BEL AIR PARAMEDIC ERIK STECIAK STRUCK, KILLED BY A FIRE DEPARTMENT UTILITY TRUCK ASSISTING HIM AT THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT.  INDICATIONS POINT TO WEATHER BEING A MAJOR FACTOR IN THIS TRAGIC ACCIDENT.

Posted by: mdfirenews January 6, 2015


                              Photo via Facebook

Updated 9:30pm — A 12-year veteran of the Maryland fire and EMS service was lost Tuesday after being struck by a fire department utility truck assisting him at the scene of an accident, officials said.

Erik Steciak, 29, a paid paramedic with the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, was pronounced dead at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air after being transported from the scene.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Steciak had been a paid paramedic with the Bel Air VFC since December 2011 and also worked as a Supervisor/Paramedic with Special Event Medical Services since 2009. He was a volunteer Captain at the West Friendship Volunteer Fire Department in Howard County where he served since 2005. He was also formerly a volunteer EMT at the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department.

Many firefighters from Bel Air and throughout the area gathered at the fire companies this evening to remember Steciak.

“Right now they’re coming together as a family, that’s what they do,” Rich Gardiner, spokesman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association, told the Harford Aegis. “That’s what fire service is about. Something happens that’s what they do, they come together. They want to be together with each other.”

Condolences were posted across social media by departments and individuals who worked with or knew Steciak.

“On behalf of County Executive Barry Glassman and Director Edward Hopkins, the Harford County Department of Emergency Services expresses our sincere sympathy to the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company and the West Friendship Volunteer Fire Company of Howard County on the tragic loss of Paramedic Erik Steciak this afternoon,” Harford County OEM posted on Facebook late Tuesday. “Our thoughts and prayers are extended to Paramedic Steciak’s immediate family, fire service family and loved ones.”

Steciak lived in Columbia. Information on services for Steciak will be posted here when they are announced.

Earlier Statement: Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company
At 1350hrs the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company was alerted for a motor vehicle collision with injury in the 300blk of Patterson Mill Rd. It was reported that a vehicle had run off the roadway into an embankment and the injured subject was in a nearby residence.
On fire department arrival it was determined that the best access to the patient was via four wheel drive assist due to the extreme weather and driveway conditions.
Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company Utility 373, a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD equipped with a snow plow responded for the four wheel drive request. As the utility vehicle proceeded down the driveway it began to slide.


                                         Photo via Facebook

At some point during the slide a member of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, a paramedic provider, was struck by the utility. He was treated at the scene and transported in grave condition to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center where he later succumbed to his injuries.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a preliminary investigation into this non traffic related fatality. Indications point to weather being a major factor in this incident.

This story will be updated by Maryland Fire News as additional information becomes available