The U.S. Fire Administration has announced the official on-duty death of Fire Engineer Brian Massey, 56, of the Kern County Fire Department on May 20, 2017
On May 18, 2017, Fire Engineer Brian Massey started a 48-hour shift by participating in a wildland firefighting class which included strenuous simulation training causing him to vigorously exert himself. At 0800hrs on May 20, 2017, Massey completed his shift which, in addition to the wildland firefighting training, included several emergency response calls. Later that day, Massey suffered a significant medical event while at home. He was transported to a local hospital where he died of a nature and cause of fatal injury still to be determined.
Tribute is being paid to Fire Engineer Massey at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/
To date, 42 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2017. Year-to-date and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted online at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ff_fatality_reports.html
Fatality status is provisional and may change as USFA contacts State Fire Marshals to verify fatality incident information.
