The firefighter who died in the line of duty in Leonardtown, Maryland, on Tuesday was a 25-year-old who began serving as a volunteer firefighter when he was just a teenager, authorities said.
Brice C. Trossbach died while fighting a house fire on Deer Wood Park Drive in St. Mary’s County, officials at Naval Air Station Patuxent River said Wednesday.
Trossbach became a Naval District firefighter in 2019 after serving with the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department and the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department.
“In the face of this tragic loss, we are reminded of the tremendous risks our firefighters face on every shift to keep our facilities and our community safe,” Capt. Derrick Kingsley, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, said in a statement.
“They risk their lives without hesitation, demonstrating remarkable bravery and commitment to the well-being of others. We will be forever grateful for their service and sacrifice,” he added.
St. Mary’s County Deputy Director of Emergency Services Gerald Gardiner said he had known Trossbach since the firefighter was a child.
“I’ve known Brice since he was a little boy who followed his father to the Leonardtown Fire Station when I was the chief there, and he always wanted to be a firefighter,” Gardiner recalled in a statement.
For his part, Chris Bell, the chief of the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department said in written statements that “words cannot convey the loss we feel, nor can they convey the pain we feel for your family.”
He remembered Trossbach in diapers, crawling around the fire station. He joined the department as a probationary member at 16 and became a full member at 18.
“Firefighting was in Brice’s blood,” and he served alongside his uncles and brother, Bell said.
When a family’s home burst into flames early Tuesday morning, Trossbach was one of the first firefighters to respond. He fell from the first floor and was trapped, authorities said. He was found and pronounced dead.
The man, woman, and their daughter who lived in the house made it out alive, but their two-story house was reduced to rubble and ash.
The home’s owner, Richard McNeil, told NBC Washington that he suspects lightning struck the home. His daughter woke up to a loud bang and the smell of smoke.
