VA Legislators Propose Naming Bridge for Fallen Virginia Beach Fire Captain

Virginia lawmakers proposed naming the bridge on Interstate 264 over South Rosemont Road in Virginia Beach “Captain Matthew ‘Chevy’ Chiaverotti Memorial Bridge.”

Chiaverotti, a Virginia Beach firefighter, died in 2023 after being diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer, a metastatic carcinoma. He was among those who responded when a Navy fighter jet crashed into an apartment building on Birdneck Road in 2012.

Chiaverotti was a 20-year veteran of the fire department and served as a FEMA search team manager with Virginia Task Force 2.

In Virginia, bridges, highways, and interchanges can be named by the Commonwealth Transportation Board or by action of the General Assembly.

Virginia Beach Del. Michael Feggans, whose father was a firefighter, introduced the bill (HB1793) to name the bridge. Five other Virginia Beach delegates, including two Democrats and three Republicans, are copatrons of the bill.

“This is the Virginia Beach House unified in coming together supporting this bill as a way to memorialize Capt. Chevy’s service to our community,” Feggans, a Democrat, said of the bipartisan support.

The transportation committee will hold a hearing on the bill next week, Feggans said.

The Virginia Beach City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution in support of naming the bridge in honor of Chiaverotti. The city has offered to pay roughly $6,000 for the signage. A fiscal impact statement for the bill indicates that placing two signs on the bridge would cost $2,900 each.

“It meant a lot to him to be a Virginia Beach firefighter, and it showed in everything he did,” said Councilman David “Hutch” Hutcheson, a former city fire chief.

Virginia Beach has been ramping up efforts in recent years to address and highlight the risks firefighters face in the workplace.

In 2023, the city screened current and retired city firefighters for more than 50 types of cancer — which is the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in departments nationwide.

It was part of a long-term response to the 2012 jet crash, also referred to as the Good Friday Miracle. On April 6, 2012, a Navy F/A-18D Hornet from Oceana Naval Air Station plunged into an apartment complex for older adults shortly after takeoff around noon, exploding into a fireball. Remarkably, no one died in the crash.

But some members of the department who worked the scene have developed cancer. Chiaverotti was working that day, and his diagnosis — in part — led to the city’s support of cancer testing for the fire department.

According to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, firefighters have a 9% higher risk of diagnosis and 14% higher risk of death from cancer compared with the general U.S. population due to occupational hazards and exposure.

State legislators are also addressing another bill related to firefighters — the Emergency Response Exposure Grant Fund and Program (HB2494 and matching SB972). The fund would award grants to localities to support certain emergency responders who were exposed to a qualifying emergency.

It requires funding to be used for annual cancer screenings and health care expenses incurred by eligible emergency responders in the event such emergency responders are diagnosed with cancer from toxic material exposure.

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