The U.S. Fire Administration has announced the official on-duty death of Firefighter William F. Gerace, 54, of Gibbsboro Fire Company No.1 Inc., on April 28, 2017.
On April 10, as he was advancing hose line during mandatory live burn training, Firefighter William Gerace suffered a spiral fracture to his right fibula. On April 28, Firefighter Gerace’s spouse contacted 911 from Gerace’s residence as he was showing signs of severe respiratory difficulty. Upon the arrival of emergency responders, Firefighter Gerace stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. He was immediately transported to a local hospital with EMS performing CPR. CPR was continued at the hospital and, after approximately 20 minutes, doctors pronounced him deceased. Autopsy results showed that he suffered a pulmonary embolism, which was directly attributed to being a complication of his initial leg fracture and recovery process.
Tribute is being paid to Firefighter Gerace at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/
To date, 35 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2017. Year-to-date and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted online at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ff_fatality_reports.html
Fatality status is provisional and may change as USFA contacts State Fire Marshals to verify fatality incident information.
