A 39-year-old Chicago Fire Department veteran died after falling from the roof of a Lincoln Park building while battling a fire Monday morning.
Chicago Fire Department officials confirmed that Andrew “Drew” Price died after suffering injuries during a fire in the 2400 block of North Lincoln Avenue.
“He was a lovely man, he was as sweet as could be,” CFD Battalion Chief Michael McCormick said outside the camp Illinois Masonic Hospital. “A good family man, everyone loved him. He really burns. He’s like a big kid, really enthusiastic. Simply a wonderful young man.
Firefighters responded to the building around 5:30 a.m. Monday after a woman reported seeing smoke in the four-story building. While they extinguished the main fire inside, other firefighters went to the roof of the building to promote what McCormick called “vertical ventilation.”
While at the top of the building, Price fell through a light well around 6 am. He was initially responsive after the fall, but rescuers had difficulty removing him and had to break through a wall to reach him.
Price, an EMT who had worked with the CFD since 2009, was then rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
PRICE “DREW” FIREMAN/EMT ANDREW. LODD 13 NOVEMBER 2023 pic.twitter.com/sAmO2GZnu4
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) November 13, 2023
“This job is very, very, very dangerous,” Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said. “We go to work and never know if we’ll come home.”
Nance-Holt described Price as a “workout fado” who enjoyed fitness and staying in shape. She said he was loved throughout the department.
“Andrew gave his life in service to the city of Chicago, taking his position on the front lines of a threat to our safety and our community,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “He made the ultimate sacrifice to protect those in danger.” – a debt we can never repay.”
It’s the fourth time a firefighter has died in the line of duty this year.
Lt. Kevin Ward Ward died in August, weeks after being seriously injured while fighting a house fire near O’Hare Airport. Lt. Jan Tchoryk, 55, died following a fire at 1212 North Lake Shore Drive in early April, a day after Jermaine Pelt, 49, died while battling a house fire near 120th and Wallace Street.
“Let me say this, we all love what we do and we all know that when we go to work, it could be our last (day),” Nance-Holt said. “We work through our pain, we really do. Do we understand it? Of course we don’t understand this at all. … That’s what the fire department is all about. When times get tough, we stick together and stick together.”
