A longtime VA volunteer firefighter died of an apparent heart attack during a call early Wednesday.
Adwolfe firefighter-EMT Charles "Dog" Woods, 58, was part of the response to a residential blaze shortly after 2 a.m. in Marion, WJHL-TV reports. He had just taken a department tanker to a hydrant to fill it with water and was returning to the scene.
"When he arrived back to the scene, he parked the tanker and was awaiting his turn to dump water into the drop tanks for the firemen that were fighting fire," Adwolfe public information officer Charles Moser told WJHL. "When it was his turn to dump, they contacted him. He did not respond. They at that time found him unresponsive inside of the truck.”
Woods was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Doctors believe the cause of death was most likely sudden cardiac arrest, Moser told WJHL.
Woods had been with the Adwolfe Volunteer Fire Department since 1986. He is survived by a wife and two sons, who also are firefighters.
“If the tones went off, he was usually the first one out the door," Adwolfe Fire Chief Steve Widner, who was Woods' brother-in-law, told WJHL. "With a radio, he was the first one walking out of the station. If you needed something, whether he knew you or didn’t know you, he was usually the first one en route to that whatever situation it was.”
