COLUMBIA — It was 5-years-ago when the Howard County Fire Department suffered a great loss.
Lieutenant Nathan Flynn died in the line of duty. Even though he is gone, his memory will forever live on.
He worked at the Rivers Park Fire Station in Columbia. When you walk inside, you will see they have a small memorial.
The department has a board that lists the last shift Flynn worked. Everyone who was working with Flynn is listed.
There is also a plaque with his name on it.
On July 23, Flynn responded to a house fire in Clarksville.
While inside, he fell through the floor to the basement.
A mayday was called.
He was trapped for 22 minutes before he was able to be rescued.
He was rushed to the hospital where he ultimately died.
Deputy Chief Gordon Wallace says after he died, they received an outpouring of support from the community.
He says every year they come together to remember Flynn.
Flynn was big into training. Every year the department has a training day in his honor.
The goal of the training is to also learn what happened on that day, so they can prevent another firefighter death.
"So, the big thing for us is that this was our first career line of duty death, and our first line of duty death in the county in a very long time. It was a tragic day for the department, and for the family and for the fire service as whole. We do this training day to make sure we honor and remember Nate and his commitment to training every year," said Wallace.
Flynn was a husband and a father. He was 34-year-old when he died.
Since Flynn's death, the fire department analyzed what happened when they responded to the call 5-years-ago.
They have made some changes to improve safety to hopefully prevent that from happening again.
This year they will have another training day on August 3 with the Frederick County Fire Department.
Joshua Laird, a Frederick County firefighter, died responding to call back in 2021.
They will analyze both incidents on the day of the training.
