MD Volunteer Firefighter Dies of Heart Attack after Shift

A Maryland volunteer firefighter died from a heart attack following a shift working on a fire department vehicle just before the new year, the U.S. Fire Administration announced Monday.

North East Fire Company assistant engineer Otis L. Isaacs Jr. was doing apparatus brake repair and working standby for two responses Dec. 28. He also helped with a department event that night, setting up tables and chairs beforehand, the USFA stated in an alert.

Isaacs, 73, then returned to the station to do work on another department vehicle. Upon returning home at around 11:30 a.m., he suffered a cardiac arrest and died, according to the USFA.

“We are forever grateful for the knowledge, experience, and dedication that he instilled in each and every single person he encountered,” the fire company stated in an online post. “There are no amount of words that could sum up the loss of Otis Jr., and our deepest condolences are with the Isaacs family during this time.”

Isaacs joined the North East Fire Company in 1964 and was one of several members of his family to be part of the department, WJZ-TV reports. He had served as chief engineer, fire chief and president of the fire company and was inducted into the Harford-Cecil Hall of Fame in 2003.

“He was an icon of this department,” a North East Fire Company spokesman told WJZ.