A Missouri firefighter was found dead in his home a couple days after a shift.
DeSoto Rural Fire Protection District Lt. Ron Wehlage, 40, had finished a shift Sunday, and other members of the district were concerned about him when he didn't show up for his next shift two days later, the Jefferson County Leader reports. On Tuesday morning, he was found dead in his home, and the district is considering it a line-of-duty death, although the cause hasn't been determined.
“There’s no indication of anything suspicious or criminal,” a spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office told the Leader.
Wehlage had been a firefighter for more than 20 years and worked for the district for more than 18 years, Fire Chief Tom Fitzgerald told the Leader. Wehlage started in the fire service as a volunteer firefighter with the Hillsboro Fire Protection District and also was the DeSoto Rural Fire Protection District's fire marshal.
“He was the nicest, gentlest, biggest-hearted person you would ever know,” Fitzgerald told the Leader.
