Harrisburg, PA Lt. Dennis DeVoe dies after crash on way to fire with children trapped
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The firefighter struck by a driver charged with DUI on his way to Friday’s deadly fire in Harrisburg has died.
Chief Brian Enterline said Dennis DeVoe, a 21-year member of Harrisburg fire service, passed away this evening from injuries suffered Friday night while responding to the fire in the 2500 block of Lexington Street.
A 4-year-old girl died of her injuries suffered in the fire, and two other children remain in Lehigh Valley Burn Center. The girl’s father and a teenage boy were released after treatment.
DeVoe, of Stewartstown, was on his way to pick up his gear at Mt. Pleasant Station 8 near 13th and Market streets when his car was T-boned at 14th and Walnut streets.
Lt. DeVoe’s vehicle was struck by another driver while he was en route to a two-alarm fire on Lexington Street that killed a two-year-old girl and injured four other people. DeVoe, a 21-year veteran of the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire, had just left a memorial service for a fellow firefighter who recently died of cancer, according to fire Chief Brian Enterline.
Police say the other driver, 19-year old Khanyae Kendall, was under the influence and ran a stop sign in the area of Walnut and 14th Streets in Harrisburg. She allegedly crashed into the passenger side of Lt. DeVoe’s vehicle, sending it through a fence and into a parking lot. She then fled the scene, according to police.
“Lieutenant DeVoe was trying to respond to an incident where he was trying to save some additional lives,” Harrisburg police Capt. Gabe Olivera said. “In that course of action, [he] was critically injured by someone who was very careless.”
Kendall later went to an area hospital on her own seeking treatment, but when officers arrived, they determined she was the driver who crashed into Lt. DeVoe’s vehicle. She has been charged with vehicular aggravated assault, driving under the influence, driving without a license, receiving stolen property, and other charges.
