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DAVE J. IANNONE
Firehouse.Com News
An exhaustive five-hour search ended late Thursday night when the body of a Denver
firefighter swept away by high water while helping save a stranded motorist was
found in a drainage culvert.
AP World Wide Photos/David Zalubowski
A motorist heads back to her stalled-out vehicle near the scene where a Denver Fire Department firefighter was swept away by heavy rains as a storm dumped several inches of rain on northeast Denver on Thursday, Aug. 17
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Robert Crump, 37, and a second firefighter from Squirt 10 of the
Denver Fire Department were directing traffic
around high water on Colorado Blvd. when a woman left her flooding car and slipped in the
fast-moving current while walking toward the side of the road, officials said.
"Two firefighters went in and grabbed the women, but [Crump] slipped and the current
caught him, carrying him under," said Mark Watson, public information officer
for the Denver Fire Department.
Crump was last seen at about 5:45 p.m Mountain time. Some of his gear, including his
helmet, was recovered during the search and
crews held out hope that he would be found alive until the end, Watson told
Firehouse.Com News late Thursday.
``Given the option between their life and somebody else's life, they
(firefighters) would take great measures to make sure the other person would live first,'' Fire Chief Rich Gonzales told
the Associated Press.
Crump's body was found at about 11 p.m. about two-and-a-half blocks away
after the extensive search by more than 50 firefighters and dozens of law enforcement personnel and officials from other
agencies.
AP World Wide Photos/David Zalubowski
A member of the Denver Fire Department dive team carries a long hook being used as a probe along a railway right-of-way as he joins in the search for Crump Thursday night.
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Water levels in the drainage culvert rose to as high as 14-feet, according to Watson,
and had subsided somewhat when crews found Crump's body. Searchers also looked in
storm drains and man hole covers during the operation.
Watson said firefighters were not engaged in an active operation when the woman
left her car, and thus were not wearing lifelines when the two men quickly reacted and
went into the water to save the woman from being carried away by the swift-moving water.
No one was able to get to Crump in time after he went under, Watson said.
The second firefighter and the woman were not injured.
Crump leaves behind a wife and three children, daughters ages 9, 11 and 13. He
joined the department in April of 1997.
"Naturally, you can imagine how the fire department feels -- any time you
lose a member, it's a loss to the whole department," Watson said. "They (at
station 10) are feeling the brunt of it right now. They've taken themselves
out of service until they're ready to continue."
The funeral will take place Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Church of the
Nazarene on Hampden Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. in Denver. A reception will follow at
the Colorado Convention Center. For more information call (303) 458-6129.
The Bob Crump Memorial Fund is set up at:
- The Denver Fire Department Credit Union
2201 Federal Blvd.
Denver, Col. 80211
(303) 458-6129
The last Denver firefighter to be killed in the line of duty was in
1993 when Firefighter Douglas Konecny was shot while entering an apartment of
a suicidal man. In 1992, Firefighter Mark Langvardt was killed while
battling an arson fire.
Related
Firehouse.Com's Heather Casey contributed to this report
Denver Firefighter Swept Away by High Water During Rescue