The U.S. Fire Administration has announced the official on-duty death of Captain Fred A. Newton, Sr. 66, of the Somerset Township Fire Department and EMS on December 27, 2016.
While preparing to leave the fire station upon completion of his shift which included responses to three emergency incidents, Captain Newton went out to the station parking lot to start and warm his car. At 0815hrs, as other members of the fire department arrived at the station, they noticed Newton was in his car and had perhaps fallen asleep while the vehicle was still running. When a firefighter went outside and knocked on a window of the vehicle there was no response. He then opened the door and noticed Captain Newton was not breathing. Emergency dispatch was notified and the EMS crew at the station immediately began to render assistance, including ALS procedures, and transported Newton to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
Tribute is being paid to Captain Newton, Sr. at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities/
To date, 88 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2016. 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.
