We learned on Sunday of the passing of Severn Fire Chief Kevin Britt, who died on Saturday after suffering a medical emergency at his home, after responding to a motor-vehicle collision. See this [FireNews.net] story as well as his obituary [link expired:http://www.rrspin.com/obituaries/item/12581-david-kevin-britt.html]. He’s the eighth line of duty death in North Carolina thus far this year, and third this month.
Later this morning, Firefighter Joshua Warren will be buried in Lincoln County. His body was escorted to the church in a procession yesterday. He was a member of Alexis, Lucia-Riverbend, and East Lincoln fire departments, and died on Thursday while exercising on-duty at a local school. See WCCB story (which has a browser warning about its security).
Here’s a brief recap of the eight fallen firefighters. All were volunteer members of their departments.
| Date | Name | Age | Department | Cause | Narrative |
| 1/12 | Joshua “Josh” Mequaine Woods | 24 | Siler City FD | Vehicle Collision | While responding to an emergency call in his personal vehicle, Firefighter Woods lost control of his car and crashed. He died from his injuries. Source: USFA. See also: Obituary [link expired:http://main.pughfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/9762/Joshua-Josh-Woods/obituary.html]. |
| 2/2 | James “Jim” Ronald Varnell | 53 | Bakertown VFD, Elm City | Medical | Firefighter Varnell was attending training on Webb Lake Road. As he prepared to leave, he became ill. He was treated at the scene and transported to the hospital, where he passed away. Source: USFA. See also: Obituary. |
| 4/30 | Richard Sheltra | 20 | Pineville-Morrow VFD, Pineville | Caught/ Trapped | Firefighter Sheltra died from injuries sustained while operating on the interior of a commercial structure fire at a strip mall. Source: USFA. See also: FireNews.net article (obituary and arrangements) [FireNews.net article] (incident). |
| 5/7 | John Morris Davis Jr. | 45 | Kenly VFD | Cardiac | Firefighter Davis experienced chest pains after assisting with extrication at a motor vehicle accident at Princeton Kenly and Hinnant Edgerton roads While en route to the hospital, he went into cardiac arrest. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful and he passed away. Source: USFA. |
| 5/12 | Prentice “Jay” Tyndall | 45 | Hugo VFD, Grifton | Medical | Near noon on the day after he responded to a fire call as a driver/operator, Firefighter Tyndall called his wife and complained of severe head pain. He was visiting a business and asked them to call 911. He was transported to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where a brain bleed was discovered. He was flown to Vidant Medical in Greenville, NC, where a procedure was done to relieve pressure on his brain. He was then flown to Duke University Hospital in Durham for further treatment. At Duke, surgery was performed in attempt to stop the brain bleed, but he succumbed to his injury on May 12, 2016. Source: USFA. See also: Obituary. |
| 6/6 | Bradley Steven Long | 28 | Sherrills Ford-Terrell FD, Sherrills Ford | Drowning | Captain Long and one other diver were searching for a missing 29-year-old man in Lake Norman when they had an emergency. A third diver entered the water after a Mayday was called. While the two other divers eventually surfaced, Captain Long never resurfaced. He was later recovered and pronounced dead at the scene. Rescue crews had been searching Lake Norman for the missing man a day prior to the emergency involving Captain Long, who was also eventually recovered. Source: USFA. See also: Obituary. |
| 6/16 | Joshua Warren | 34 | Alexis FD | Medical | Firefighter Warren was on duty and exercising at East Lincoln Middle School when he collapsed while jogging around a track that morning. He was treated at the scene and transported to CHS-Lincoln Medical Center, where he passed away. Source: [FireNews.net], WCCB (which has a browser warning about its security). |
| 6/18 | David Kevin Britt | 54 | Severn VFD | Medical | Chief Britt suffered at a medical emergency at his home about midnight, shortly after responding to a motor-vehicle collision. He was Fire Chief of Severn VFD, and had been a member for 38 years. Sources: [FireNews.net] and obituary. |