The U.S. Fire Administration has announced the official on-duty death of Firefighter Richard "Andy" Loller, Jr., 42, of the Weatherford Fire Department on June 10, 2018.

While performing wildland firefighting operations, Firefighter Richard “Andy” Loller, Jr. suffered a medical emergency. Loller was flown by helicopter to receive medical treatment and was stabilized before being placed on a medical airplane to receive further treatment at a hospital in Odessa. While in flight, Firefighter Loller passed away from a nature and cause of fatal injury still to be reported. 

Tribute is being paid to Firefighter Loller, Jr. at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/

To date, 43 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2018.  Year-to-date and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted online at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ff_fatality_reports.html

Fatality status is provisional and may change as USFA contacts State Fire Marshals to verify fatality incident information.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released its annual U.S. Firefighter Fatalities report, which showed a total of 60 U.S. firefighter fatalities while on duty in 2017. This number represents the lowest total reported since 1977, when NFPA began reporting on-duty firefighter fatalities; it is the sixth time in the last seven years that the total has been below 70 deaths.
- PUB DATE: 6/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NFPA.org

A DC Fire and EMS report says that improper positioning of equipment and a rookie's inexperience were the biggest contributing factors in an apparatus incident that left a young firefighter with severe injuries in August 2017. Probationary firefighter Dane Smothers Jr. was serving as a lineman (nozzle firefighter) during a Capitol Hill house fire on Aug.
- PUB DATE: 6/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com

Five members of a family, including three young children, were killed early Sunday morning after their getaway cabin near Hood Canal exploded and burned, according to Jefferson County fire and police officials. The family was from Monroe and used the 250-square-foot cabin frequently, officials said.
- PUB DATE: 6/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times

Police said a Decatur man tried to kill himself by setting his trailer home on fire and then threatened to assault one of the firemen who was trying to put the blaze out. A sworn police affidavit said the 24-year-old man, who is accused of setting the fire in an office of the trailer in the 2000 block of Hedrick Court on Saturday night, also told police he knew his mother was present in the structure at the time.
- PUB DATE: 6/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Herald & Review