FDNY Firefighter Dies In Firehouse A Day After Battling Blaze

NEW YORK CITY — A New York firefighter died on duty just one day after battling a devastating blaze, officials said.

Firefighter Jesse Gerhard, 33, of Long Island suffered a "medical episode" Wednesday in his Queens firehouse, FDNY officials said.

Medics rushed him from his Far Rockaway neighborhood firehouse to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead, a release states.

“As a firefighter and an EMT, Jesse Gerhard served our city with incredible courage and valor, always rushing into danger and risking his life to save others,” said Laura Kavanagh, the city's acting fire commissioner, in a statement. “Our entire Department is in mourning over the tragic death of this extraordinary young man who always answered the call and never wavered in his sworn duty to save others.”

Gerhard, who lived in Long Beach, served seven years in the FDNY, officials said. He was also a volunteer with the Islip Fire Department. He is survived by his parents, brother and sister-in-law, FDNY officials said.

On Tuesday — on what turned out to be his second-to-last-day on duty — he helped battle a fire. At 4:05 p.m., Gerhard responded to a two-alarm fire on Beach Channel Drive near Hartman Lane, officials said.

A three-story home was completely engulfed flames, and Gerhard was assigned to force open the building's door so he and other firefighters could look for trapped people, officials said. Four people in the home suffered minor injuries, a release states.

Gerhard returned to duty Wednesday and, about 11 p.m., suffered a fatal medical episode, officials said.

He's the 1,156th member of the FDNY to die in the line of duty, officials said.