THE CHIEF OF THE MEDORA FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS KILLED BY OWN FIRE TRUCK AS IT WAS BACKING UP AT A RESCUE SITE
February
7, 2015
MACOUPIN
COUNTY, ILLINOIS --
The chief of the Medora Fire Department was killed Thursday
afternoon after being run over by a fire truck driven by his own fire department.
Illinois
State Police say the fire department was attempting to close a road for a
helicopter to land in a medical emergency.
The incident happened at about 2:30 p.m. in the rural Chesterfield, Ill., area.
The Medora firefighters were responding to a call for a man who had broken his leg when a tree limb fell on him, said Earl Nixon, president of the fire district.
Chief
Kenneth Lehr, 59, was hit by the fire truck as it was backing up. He was
pronounced dead at the scene.
Lehr
has been the chief in Medora since 2006 and just last month retired from his
day job.
Grief
counselors are being provided to other firefighters. Neighboring fire districts
are helping by taking all emergency calls for Medora.
Unfortunately,
quite a few EMS and fire and police are killed by backing up of trucks or other
vehicles at these sites. The lighting is
either not existent or not good at all, there is a lack of coordination with
all the EMS and fire personnel, etc.
Therefore, backing up accidents happen all the time. The chief was killed in the line of duty and
he will be missed.