By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) will host the 43rd National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend Saturday and Sunday in Emmitsburg, Md., with 13 Kentucky firefighters among those to be honored.
This year’s national tribute will honor 89 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2023 and 137 firefighters who died in previous years. The 13 from Kentucky include:
• Assistant Chief Joseph Back, 59, of the Whitesburg Fire Department, responded to an emergency medical call at a home on 10/27/2023 and suffered a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital where he died three days later.
• Fire Chief Homer “H.M.” Bottom, 82, of the City of Russell Springs Fire Department, died on 10/16/2021 due to complications of COVID-19.
• Captain Edwin “Carter” Conley, 71, of the Magoffin County Rescue Squad, died on 9/12/2021 due to complications of COVID-19.
• Firefighter Regina Huffman, 40, of the Coon Creek Fire & Rescue, responded to an ATV accident with two people seriously injured, and helicopters were summoned for transport. As the apparatus she was riding was responding, it ran off the road. She died at the hospital on 10/28/23.
• Battalion Chief Michael “Sean” Kelly, 48, of the Murray Fire Department, died on 2/28/2022 due to complications of COVID-19.
• Firefighter Clarence Lytle, 52, of the Georgetown Fire and Rescue, died on 6/26/23, from complications of pancreatic cancer, deemed by the state of Kentucky to be a line-of-duty death.
• Deputy Chief Brian Morgan, 46, of the Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Department participated in mandated physical training on 10/23/20. He was found dead at home by family members the next day.
• Captain Bobby Mosby, 51, of the Nelson Creek Volunteer Fire Department, responded to pick up the tanker to respond to a field fire on 5/25/2023. A firefighter on scene reported the fire under control and extinguished, so Mosby returned home. Later that night, he began experiencing chest pains. The next day, he suffered cardiac arrest, and was transported to the hospital where he passed away.
• Sergeant David Pawley, 52, of the Louisville Fire Department, died on 9/2/21, due to complications of liver cancer, deemed by the state of Kentucky to be a line-of-duty death.
• Sergeant Thomas Petschke, 53, of the Ballardsville Fire & Rescue, was at the scene of a residential fire that had expanded into the woods on 11/11/23 and collapsed while battling the brush fire. He was taken to a local hospital where he died due to a heart attack.
• Captain Ernest Rudder, 74, of the Bush Volunteer Fire Department, died on 9/25/2021 due to complications of COVID-19.
• Engineer David Studer, 54, of the Covington Fire Department, died on 1/20/2022 due to complications of COVID-19.
• Assistant Chief William “Sonny” Thompson, 74, of the Mercer Fire Protection District, died on 8/20/2021 due to complications of COVID-19.