August Orioles Game to Honor Fallen Reisterstown Firefighter

By Amber Woods

When the Baltimore Orioles play the Oakland A’s in a home game on Aug. 23, fans will be supporting more than just their cherished home team.

A portion of ticket sales will support “Hero Night Out,” an event hosted by the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company. The volunteer company hopes to raise monies for a fund honoring Volunteer Firefighter Gene Kirchner, a member of their company, who died in May after fighting a blaze on Hanover Road in Reisterstown.

Kirchner was critically injured April 24 while doing a search during a house fire and died eight days later at Maryland Shock Trauma. 

Kirchner was a nine-year member of the fire company and a junior firefighter for two years. 

A portion of each $15 ticket will be donated to the fund in his honor, which has been established to assist his family in paying down debt so they may receive his line-of-duty death benefits.

The Aug. 23 O’s game will take place just one day after what would have been the firefighter’s 26th birthday.