A firefighter from a small Kansas city has died after suffering serious injuries in a fall from a fire apparatus being put back in service following a structure fire.
According to a release by the City of Wamego Fire Department, 67-year-old firefighter John Randle had helped battle a structure fire early Monday morning before he was seriously injured in a fall "while returning fire apparatus to service."
The Wamego department says Randle, who volunteered with the department for 14 years, was airlifted in critical condition from Wamego Health Center to Stormont Vail Hospital but succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
"Our department is very heartfelt, we have lost a good friend, a good community member," Wamego Chief Phil Stultz told WIBW. "It's been pretty devastating for our department. He is gone but he won’t be forgotten.”
Wamego is a city of less than 5,000 people in Pottawatomie County about 43 miles northwest of Topeka.
