The U.S. Fire Administration has announced the official on-duty death of Assistant Fire Chief David Fischer, 43, of the Sturgis Volunteer Fire Department on September 7, 2018.
At approximately 4 p.m. on Sept. 7, Assistant Fire Chief David Fischer responded with the Sturgis Volunteer Fire Department and other local first-responders to a residential structure fire in Tilford, South Dakota. Upon arrival, firefighters found a single-family home that was fully involved in fire. The intense fire ignited several outbuildings on the property and threatened nearby propane tanks.
Firefighters made their initial attack, sent out a mutual aid call, and evacuated nearby residents. Soon after, responders were informed of a resident that was unaccounted for and last seen in the involved residence. As firefighters continued to fight the fire and attempted to locate the missing resident, a nearby propane tank experienced a catastrophic failure causing a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion, or BLEVE. The explosion instantly killed Fischer. In addition, the remains of the missing resident, an 82 year-old male, were found the following morning.
Tribute is being paid to Assistant Chief Fischer at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/
To date, 68 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2018. 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.
