An Alabama fire department is mourning the death of their 27-year-old fire chief, who passed away while representing the department at an EMS convention Thursday morning.
"It was an overwhelming thing for us," said Assistant Chief Richard Oliver of the Green Pond Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service.
Chief Harry Edward Suggs joined the department four years ago and became chief a year later. He formerly worked as a career firefighter at the Adamsville Fire Department.
"He was loved by everybody here," Oliver said. "He was carrying the department into the future. That was his goal."
Suggs was attending an EMS seminar in Panama City Beach, Florida when he suddenly died. Oliver said they do not yet know the cause of death, and do not have details about the response because it was handled by Florida rescue officials.
Oliver said Suggs' greatest legacy at the department will be the advanced life support program he started, and efforts to train firefighters as professionally as possible. "He was going in the right direction," Oliver said.
Suggs is survived by his wife Beth, a two-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter.
A firefighter funeral was held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Westwood Baptist Church in Forestdale, with firefighters and apparatus attending from all across the region. Several departments offered to cover for Green Pond firefighters while they attended the funeral. "Most every department responded in some type of way," Oliver said.
The Green Pond Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service has 27 volunteer firefighters and operates out of three stations to serve a population of 10,000 in a rural community.
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