A Davis Creek-Ruthdale firefighter died after falling from a bridge early Sunday morning, according to The Charleston Daily Mail.
Joey King, 61, and another firefighter responded to reports of a fire involving railroad ties in the area north of Sproul Road near Alum Creek about 1 a.m.
They were attempting to spot the source of the fire from the Steven Wayne Smith Memorial Bridge but dense fog and the smoke from the fire hampered visibility, Kanawha County Fire Coordinator C.W. Sigman told the newspaper.
No one saw King fall from the bridge.
The other firefighter searched for him and called for help after failing to find him. Crews soon saw the light from his flashlight and found his body nearby.
The cause of the fall is currently under investigation.
The fire was later found and extinguished and its cause also is under investigation.
King was a member of the Davis Creek-Ruthdale Volunteer Fire Department for seven years.
"It's devastating," Fire Chief Jeff Snodgrass told the newspaper. "Firefighters are a real close family. We vacationed together, a bunch of us. Joey set it all up . . . No matter where we went, Joey knew somebody."
Funeral arrangements are pending.
