A 34-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department died Wednesday at Aria Torresdale Hospital, two days after he was critically injured at the Fire Academy in Holmesburg.
Lt. Benny Hutchins, 62, who joined the Fire Department in 1984, was participating in a training exercise at the academy at 5200 Pennypack St. when he was injured, said Ed Marks, president of Local 22 firefighters’ union. Marks said that he didn’t know the details of the exercise, but that it was part of a survival training that 1,700 people have completed.
Hutchins served on several engine and ladder companies across the city since joining the department. He became a lieutenant in 2003 and since January had been assigned to Ladder 30 in Roxborough, the department said in a statement.