Buchanan Valley Assistant Chief Walter Wagaman was the third firefighter in Adams County to be killed in the line of duty in a dozen years.
Vehicles were involved in the incidents that led to each of their deaths, which is rare.
Adam Cole, also of Buchanan Valley Fire Department, and Brandon Little of United Hook and Ladder Company 33 in New Oxford were both killed in crashes while driving to the scenes of fires.
Cole died Oct. 4, 2007, at the age of 24. He was driving to the fire department to catch an engine for a call in Franklin County when his vehicle crossed the center line while negotiating a curve and struck an oncoming vehicle, Public Opinion previously reported. Just over four years later, on Jan. 18, 2012, Little was also killed at age 19 while driving his personal vehicle to his fire station to respond to a structure fire, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.