UPDATED: Baltimore County, MD announces death of Reisterstown VFC Firefighter Gene Kirchner, injured in house fire last week. Funeral arrangements announced.
Click here to follow STATter911.com on Facebook (hit “like”)
Previous coverage here, here & here
Reisterstown VFC Facebook page
It is with deep sorrow and regret that the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company announces the line of duty passing of Firefighter Gene Kirchner. Gene succumbed to his injures after an 8 day fight. He sustained critical injuries while he was performing a search on a dwelling fire April 24, 2013. Gene is a 9 year member of our company and was a junior fire fighter for 2 years. A full fire department funeral will be scheduled.
Date of Funeral: Sunday, May 5, 2013 Time of Funeral: 1 pm
Funeral Location: Har Sinai Congregation 2905 Walnut Avenue, Owings Mills, MD, 21117
Cemetery:
Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, Timonium, MD Shiva:
302 Bond Avenue
Reisterstown, MD 21136
Donations:
Contributions in his memory may be made to:
Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company
108 Main Street
Reisterstown, MD 21136
Alison Kenezevich, The Baltimore Sun:
A volunteer firefighter who joined the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company as a teenager more than a decade ago died Thursday of injuries sustained in a fire last week that also killed another man.
Gene Kirchner, 25, died at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, officials said.
“Everybody is extremely shocked by this,” said Craig Hewitt, assistant chief of the fire company. “They’re missing Gene right now. He was a very key part of our fire company, and he will be greatly missed.”
Kirchner was one of the first firefighters to respond to the house fire on Hanover Road early on the morning of April 24.
He tried to save a man trapped inside, officials said. Kirchner was found unconscious on the second floor when a county response team arrived, officials said.
Kirchner was critically injured in an April 24 house fire at 19 Hanover Road, a few blocks up the street from the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company.
Chief Craig Hewitt is among many saddened at the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company, where Kirchner and his twin brother William had volunteered for more than nine years.
“We have felt like we have kind of raised Gene and his brother from young men into adults. We’ve watched them grow as firefighters,” Hewitt said.
Do you want to sell a rig? Click HERE to find out how with SellFireTrucks.com.
