LODD: California FF Struck by Power Line

[Guest hoss]

Prayers to the family and friends of Captain Mark McCormack, 36, of the Santa Clara County Fire Dept., California.

Posted on Sun, Feb. 13, 2005

 

 

Los Gatos blaze leaves one firefighter dead

By The Mercury News

A Santa Clara County firefighter is dead following a four-alarm fire that broke out in Los Gatos around 2 a.m. Sunday.

Firefighter Mark McCormack, 36, had been promoted to captain about two weeks ago, department spokesman Dennis Johnsen said. McCormack joined the county fire department in 1999 after working for the state Department of Forestry in southern California.

Firefighters arrived at the two-story home on the 15,000 block of Blossom Hill Road around 2:20 a.m. to see flames shooting through the roof.

The six people inside the home all managed to escape, and none were hospitalized, Johnsen said. But he said the home's ``unconventional floor plan'' complicated firefighting efforts, leaving the structure gutted.

McCormack was outside the home when he apparently was struck by a fallen power line that was dangling across the driveway from a tree limb. He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Johnsen said this is the first duty-related death for the county fire department since its inception in 1947.