Parents of Fallen NY Firefighter Drop Suit Against Fire Dept.

The parents of a New York firefighter who died at a 2015 house fire said they will not file suit against the fire department and the village.

Capt. Jack Rose, 19, died Dec. 19 after he was pulled from a mutual aid house fire in Saugerties.

Lawyer Joe O’Connor told the Daily Freeman that Rose's parents “don’t feel comfortable suing the fire departments their son loved so much. ...They don’t feel it’s necessary to make a claim.”

They filed a notice of claim last in July to sue the Centerville/Cedar Grove Fire Department and the Village of Saugerties, but Gary and Linda Rose had decided not to move forward.

The claim stated that the SCBA Rose used, which was taken from a Centerville/Cedar Grove Fire District, had not been inspected. It also started that the SCBA "may have been defective or unfit for use."

Centerville/Cedar Grove Fire Chief James Mullen said the decision was “good news for the (volunteer) firemen that are doing this for free.”

In the withdrawn notice of claim, Gary and Linda Rose, as administrators of Jack Rose’s estate, said a respirator that belonged to the Centerville/Cedar Grove Fire District and was used by Rose on the day of the fire “had not been inspected on a monthly basis and may have been defective or unfit for use” and that both the Centerville/Cedar Grove and village of Saugerties fire departments violated state labor law.

Post-incident reports stated that Rose did not use SCBA from the apparatus he responded on, but one from another department. It was a different brand and officials said he was not trained on the proper use of it.

Rose's parents filed a lawsuit against the homeowner over the summer citing negligence.