16-Year-Old Beaufort, MO, Firefighter Dies Responding to Water Rescue

A Missouri fire department is heartbroken after a 16-year-old volunteer was killed while responding to a rescue call, officials and news outlets report.

The teen volunteer firefighter, Chevy Gall, was driving to the scene of a water rescue at 4:15 p.m. Friday, April 4, when he got into a fatal accident in Franklin County, the Beaufort-Leslie Fire Protection District said in a news release.

“Tonight is a fire chief’s worst nightmare,” Fire Chief Terry Feth said in the release.

According to a State Highway Patrol crash report, Gall was driving on Highway 50 when, for an unknown reason, his car crossed into an oncoming lane and crashed into the front of a cargo van.

The driver of the van suffered minor injuries. Gall was taken to a hospital where he died, according to the report. Gall was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

“Chevy died while answering the call to help others,” Feth said. “Our entire department is grieving, as we mourn with Chevy’s family, friends, and our fellow first responders during this incredibly difficult time.”

Beaufort and the surrounding area was under heavy rainfall at the time of the crash, Franklin County Emergency Manager Abe Cook told KSDK.

“It’s a dangerous situation” when first responders have to get somewhere quickly in bad weather, he said.

“Chevy’s passing leaves behind his loving parents and two siblings, who are engulfed in grief,” the Chief Mason Griffith Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping first responders, said in a Facebook post. “This unimaginable situation has cast a shadow over our entire community, reminding us of the tremendous sacrifices our first responders make every day.”

Beaufort is a roughly 60-mile drive southwest from St. Louis.

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