LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.com Managing Editor

Did Christopher Kangas, an eighth-grader at Northley Junior High School (PA) and a junior fireman in Brookhaven Fire Company, die in the line of duty as a result of being struck by a car on his bicycle while responding to his station which he thought was answering a fire call?

Brookhaven Fire Company Full Coverage Mom Says Son Lived Dream Fire 'Family' Bids a Sad Farewell Grief Unites Delaware County, PA Emergency Workers Junior Firefighter: Youngest Line of Duty Death Ever? Junior Firefighter Struck Enroute to Call Mourned PA Junior Firefighter Enroute to Call on Bike Struck, Killed by Car Brookhaven Fire Company Forums LODD Status Post/View Condolences Related Sites Brookhaven Fire Company ResponderSafety.com National Fallen Firefighters Foundation United States Fire Administration Funeral/Donation Info Officials at the Brookhaven Fire Company said the viewing and funeral for junior firefighter Christopher Kangas, 14, will take place on Thursday, May 9. Viewing will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Bateman Funeral Home in Brookhaven, followed by a procession to the Borough Hall at 2 Cambridge Road, where the memorial service will take place. Officials said Kangas, a one-year member of the department, will receive a full firefighter's funeral. Any company wishing to send apparatus may contact the station at 610-872-8093. The family requests that any donations be sent to the Brookhaven Fire Company, at 4218 Barlow in Brookhaven, PA 19015. The department can be reached by email at station52@brookhavenfd.org Insider Forward: E-Mail This Page to a Friend or Co-Worker Interact: Discuss This and Other Topics in the Firehouse Forums

That is a decision to be made and could possibly make him one of the youngest, at the age of 14, ever recognized in that manner.

Several agencies are involved in some way with the determination. The U.S. Department of Justice recognizes Line-of-Duty Deaths in the Public Safety Officer's Benefit (PSOB) Program, which awards a monetary benefit to the victim's survivors. The award recognizes public safety officers whose deaths are "the direct and proximate result of a traumatic injury sustained in the line of duty".

Some particulars of Saturday's tragic accident will be determining factors. "We got a call to be on stand-by for a house fire in Concordville," Brookhaven Fire Department President Jon Grant told the Delaware County Times. "We hadn't even left yet, when we got the call on Christopher's accident."

Under the PSOB Program, a public safety officer is a person serving a public agency in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a public rescue squad or ambulance crew.

Eileen Garry, Director of the Office of Benefits, Department of Justice PSOB Program, said they would have no comment on the case at this time without any pending request and further information from the department and family. "We would be glad to talk to the department and be glad to talk to the family and glad to do whatever it is we could do in helping the family and the department."

Garry did say the regulations they follow have no age limit. "It is a matter of authority. A matter of whether or not this young man meets the definition of a public safety officer and we won't know that until we get the information from the family and department."

Mark Whitney who produces the Firefighter Fatality Annual Report as a Fire Program Specialist with the U.S. Fire Administration, said in reference to the LODD designation, "It's a little early to call it definite but it sure looks like it qualifies to me."

Their LODD notification would be provisional. "We go ahead and put out a notice and then make the final determination the first of the year. I am tending to think it probably qualifies for our on duty criteria," Whitney said.

Whitney added they too have no age restriction. "If the department calls the person a firefighter and was on the duty, we rely on their judgement on that." "You got to just love these kids who already at that age are putting public service in their heads," he added.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation annually honors Line-of-Duty deaths which they designate under criteria similar to DOJ's PSOB Program. Executive Director Ron Siarnicki said there were a number of questions yet to be answered in this situation and therefore would not venture to answer the LODD question yet. He did say that the Foundation honored a 16-year-old Virginia firefighter in 1996.

According to the Delaware County Daily Times, "Pennsylvania law does not allow junior firefighters to actually be involved with the fighting of a fire. They are not allowed in a burning building, or near a car fire."

The Times also reported that despite the fact that Kangas did not die in an actual fire, Brookhaven Fire Company would provide him with full honors at his funeral. "We'll bring out all the trucks and everything for the kid, (FD Company President Jon) Grant said. "He died responding to a fire call as if he was on duty."