A veteran Brocktown firefighter died last month of injuries sustained while rescuing a woman from an apartment fire about a decade ago.
Capt. Jason Gould, 46, a fourth-generation firefighter, suffered lung damage when his mask was knocked off, The Enterprise reported.
Retired Firefighter Mark Picher said he and Gould inwere bringing a woman down from one of the upper floors of the Hamilton Oaks apartments during a fire when it happened.
“When his mask became dislodged from his face, he took in a pretty good amount of smoke. But he never let her go. He kept pushing through to get her out of there and got her to the outside,” Picher said. “If it wasn’t for him, I couldn’t have moved her by myself."
Gould's lungs were damaged during the rescue, but he continued to work for the department until he was forced to retire in 2023 due to his declining health.
After his retirement, Gould received two lung transplants. He unfortunately died of complications from a second procedure.
He was also a Navy veteran.
Picher worked with Gould as his former Captain for six or seven years, and remembers him as a dependable, hard-working firefighter.
