A West Virginia firefighter died after suffering a medical emergency while on duty early Monday.
Charleston firefighter-medic Jason Cuffee, 27, was working at Station 3 when he failed to respond to a call shortly after midnight, the department stated in a release. Concerned about his well-being, Cuffee's colleagues went to the station to check on him and found him unresponsive.
The firefighters immediately began performing CPR on Cuffee, and he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the department added. The cause of death has not been determined, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
"He was an important member of our department and is greatly missed,” Charleston Fire Department Chief Jeffrey Jackson said in a statement.
Cuffee started with the department in May 2015. It is Charleston Fire Department's first line-of-duty death since August 1980.
“You live with these guys and gals and you are as close as family because that’s what you are,” Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said during a radio interview, according to West Virginia MetroNews. “There are a lot of firefighters hurting right now, a lot of medics who are hurting.”
In 2016, Cuffee, who had young children, spoke with WCHS-TV about working the Christmas Day shift.
“Obviously, we would all like to be home with our families, but that’s the job and it’s nice, and it’s like a brotherhood here too, like a second family,” he told the TV station.
