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