Paulding Firefighter Who Had Heart Attack Still On Ventilator

HIRAM, GA — A Paulding County firefighter who suffered a heart attack while battling a fire remained in intensive care on a ventilator Monday, according to a fire department spokesman.

Sgt. Kevin Van Dyke was in critical but stable condition at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, said Paulding County Fire & Rescue spokesman Lt. Steve Mapes.

Van Dyke suffered the heart attack, fell unconscious and stopped breathing at about 9:14 p.m. Friday, according to Mapes. His fellow firefighters established that he still had a pulse and began giving Van Dyke CPR.

A defibrillator was used to shock Van Dyke's heart back into a normal rhythm, Mapes said. He was taken to Paulding Hospital, where he was stabilized, then to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.

Firefighters had been called at 8:41 p.m. to reports of a tractor-trailer on fire at 3807 Atlanta Hwy. in Hiram. Callers to 911 said there were placards on the truck saying that it was carrying flammable liquids.

Firefighters, including Van Dyke's Engine 1 team, discovered the truck heavily engulfed in flames.

On crowdfunding website GoFundMe, a fundraiser has been created to help pay for Van Dyke's medical care. The fundraiser, created by fellow firefighter Daniel Norton, of Rockmart, had raised $4,125 of a $7,000 goal as of Monday morning.

"Kevin is in stable condition but is not out of the woods yet," Norton wrote on the fundraiser page. "He is still fighting the fight, he will continue to have medical procedures to help him heal and recover throughout the next week or so.

"Please continue to pray for him, his family and his brothers and sisters at PCFD and surrounding departments that he means so much to."

Van Dyke, 41, is a 10-year veteran of Paulding County Fire & Rescue. He is assigned to Fire Station #1 on Thomas B. Murphy Drive in Dallas.

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Photo via GoFundMe