A veteran volunteer Maryland firefighter died Tuesday after suffering a medical emergency while helping to clean up a previous fatal auto accident.
Libertytown firefighter Michael Powers was part of the crews that responded to a crash just before 1 p.m. at State Route 26 and Unionville Road, The Frederick News-Post reports. At least one person was killed and at least two people were injured in a head-on collision between a Volkswagen and a tanker truck hauling water.
Powers was the driver of one of the responding apparatus, and he began clearing away wreckage from the accident once he arrived at the scene. As he bent over to pick up debris, the longtime firefighter suffered a medical event, according to the News-Post.
"In doing so, (Powers) experienced a serious medical injury and collapsed on scene," Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Service Chief Tom Owens said at a press conference at Frederick Memorial Hospital, where Powers was taken after his collapse.
At the hospital, Powers eventually was pronounced dead just before 2:30 p.m. No details were given regarding the nature of the medical emergency.
"I saw him lean down, presumably to move some of the debris, and he didn't come back up. He just collapsed," Chip Jewell—Libertytown Volunteer Fire Department's president who knew Powers for nearly 50 years and worked with him since the early '80s—told the News-Post.
Starting his fire service career more than 40 yearss ago with the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Company, Powers came to the Libertytown department after transferring from Carroll Manor Volunteer Fire Company.
"He has served us well," Owens told the News-Post. "Our loss is the loss of our county and of his family."
