He was a long time member of the Frederick County fire and rescue community.
Frederick, Md (KM) A long time Frederick County career fire fighter has died. The Division of Fire and Rescue Services say Drue Jones, 60, was found deceased on his property in Dickerson Tuesday morning. Jones was a 14-year member of Frederick County Fire and Rescue and was assigned to the Vigilant Hose Company in Emmitsburg.
Sarah Campbell with Frederick County Fire and Rescue say a welfare check was requested when Jones didn’t show up for his shift which began at 6:00 AM on Tuesday. His battalion chief reached out to Jones, but was unsuccessful. .
Montgomery County Police, and Fire and Rescue from Montgomery and Frederick Counties, went his home in the 23,000 block of West Harris Road to conduct a search.
Within 20-minutes, they located an overturned tractor with one male victim down a steep embankment. “Because of the terrain and the steepness of the embankment, Montgomery County requested its Technical Rescue team.. They came out and were able to make their way down to the victim and confirmed it was Fire Fighter Jones,” says Campbell.
Jones was pronounced dead at the scene at around 9:14 AM.
Campbell says it’s always difficult when you lose a fire fighter, even if that person died while off duty. “Especially when it involves something as unexpected and tragic as this,” she says.
Jones is the father of Stephen Jones, whose also a career fire fighter, and president of the local Career Fire Fighters Association Local 3666.
By Kevin McManus