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Two longtime Pennsylvania firefighters with the same fire company both lost their battles with COVID-19 within a span of five days earlier this month.
The U.S. Fire Administration announced on Monday the line-of-duty deaths of Colonial Park Fire Company #1 members Lee Witman and Edward Hine in the weeks before Christmas after both contracted the virus while performing station duties.
Witman, a 63-veteran of the fire service and Chief Emeritus for Colonial Park, passed away Dec. 11 after the 88-year-old contracted COVID five days earlier.
Hine, 79, had been a firefighter for 54 years and is believed to have been infected by the virus on Dec. 13 before succumbing to it only three days later.
It is unclear how both men were exposed to the virus in the course of their duties on separate occasions.
