Though wearing an air pack, Mount Marion Fire Department Capt. Jack Rose inhaled “superheated gases” and suffered “irreversible respiratory failure,” causing his death while fighting a house fire, town police said Thursday.
Rose, 19, died Dec. 19, 2015, after going into distress while helping fight a chimney fire in a home at 11 Fel Qui Road in the Centerville Fire District. The fire has been ruled accidental.
On Thursday, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said Rose was wearing an air pack when he entered the home and when his body was found and that the firefighter’s death was the result of “either a mechanical condition or human error.”
“That’s yet to be determined,” Sinagra said. The police chief said he expects the continuing investigation “to shed light” on what led to Rose’s death.
In a press release Thursday, Saugerties police said the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control was asked to conduct the investigation into the blaze by the Ulster County Fire Coordinator’s Office.
“Fire Prevention and Control investigators and a canine accelerant-detection team responded, met with local and county officials and worked with the assistance of personnel from the Ulster County Arson Task Force and Saugerties Police Department,” the release stated.