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Kingston firefighter succumbs to accident |
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Thursday, 02 July 2009 |
By CARL CRITZ
KINGSTON – Kingston and Union Fire District members, and indeed the community at large, are mourning the death of Kingston Assistant Fire Chief Alan LePage after he was seriously injured on Monday afternoon at the Kingston fire station on 35 Bills Road.
This is the first line-of-duty death the Union and Kingston Fire Districts have experienced in several decades, and the death of LePage has had a profound impact.
LePage was working on Kingston’s ladder truck, Ladder 2, around 2:30 p.m. when he was seriously injured. South Kingstown EMS personnel rushed the man from the scene to South County Hospital, where he was later airlifted to Rhode Island Hospital via a Lifestar helicopter out of Groton, Conn.
Unfortunately the efforts were in vain, and LePage was removed from life support at Rhode Island Hospital. All Union Fire District members were assembled at 8 p.m. on Monday to hear the news at the administration building.
Fire crews from throughout the district will be covering Kingston’s duty shifts to provide round-the-clock coverage for the village of Kingston and the University of Rhode Island campus.
Rhode Island’s last line of duty death was on November 3, 2008, when Bristol firefighter Wayne Brown collapsed unexpectedly while preparing for a call. He was 63 years old.
South Kingstown police and state fire marshals are investigating the cause of the accident at this time. No further information has been released.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 04 September 2009 )
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