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A Tennessee firefighter died in December after battling COVID-19 for more than a month, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
East Sullivan County volunteer firefighter Ronald Steven Perry, 57, tested positive along with two other firefighters after responding to a mutual aid call for a Nov. 15 building fire, the USFA stated in an alert Friday. The virus claimed his life Dec. 17.
Along with serving with the East Sullivan County Volunteer Fire Department, Perry also was a captain with the Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency's Rescue Division, according to his obituary. He worked with a variety of public service departments and agencies around the community over the past 40 years, including Sullivan County EMS, the Bluff City Rescue Squad, the East Volunteer Fire Department and the Kingsport Life Saving Crew, the obituary added
"To know him, you knew his heart was into helping people, which the way he lived his life was evidence of," the Sullivan West Volunteer Fire Department stated in a social media post remembering Perry last month. "You will be missed Steve, but never forgotten."
The members of the Sullivan West Volunteer Fire Department would like to express their condolences to the Perry family...
Posted by Sullivan West Volunteer Fire Department on Friday, December 18, 2020
