A volunteer fire captain with East Olympia Fire District 6 passed Sunday, Dec. 16 after suffering a medical emergency while on-site at a Yelm structure fire.
John Ostergard, a captain with East Olympia Fire District 6, was on-site Friday night at a structure fire in the Bald Hills area when he collapsed from an apparent cardiac arrest, said Mark King, fire chief for Southeast Thurston Fire Authority.
The fire was the first of two large fires Southeast Thurston Fire Authority responded to last weekend. The second fire occurred Saturday morning outside of Rainier. No additional loss of life was reported.
A structure fire was reported Friday night at 8:04 p.m. Southeast Thurston was on scene by 8:13 p.m. at the 1800 block of 119th Avenue in the Bald Hills area, King said. Bald Hills Fire Department assisted on scene, as well as a battalion that Ostergard was apart of.
Shortly after arriving, Ostergard collapsed and emergency responders began treating him for cardiac arrest symptoms. He was then transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital, King said. Ostergard passed Sunday. He was a volunteer with the department for 27 years.