A Massachusetts Firefighting Academy staff member suffered serious injuries after falling from the burn building at the agency’s Stow campus while preparing for recruit training

By Charlie McKenna
masslive.com

STOW, Mass. — The staff member seriously hurt in a fall at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow Tuesday morning has been identified as an off-duty Chelmsford firefighter, officials said.

The firefighter fell from the Stow campus Burn Building around 9:05 a.m. Tuesday, while preparing for recruit training, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Department of Fire Services.

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Personnel at the academy, many of whom are EMTs and paramedics, began providing aid to the firefighter and called 911, Wark said. The Stow and Sudbury fire departments went to the academy and took him to UMass Memorial Medical Center, where he is being treated for serious injuries.

Chelmsford Fire Chief Gary Ryan said department personnel were at the hospital to support the firefighter and his loved ones. Ryan described the fall as an “off-duty accident.”

“At the specific request of his family, his name is not being released at this time. All of us at Chelmsford FD are holding him in our prayers,” Ryan said in a statement.

Ryan thanked first responders from Stow, Sudbury and LifeFlight for providing “immediate, professional medical care at the scene and in transport.”

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