DOUBLE LODD: Second SFFD Firefighter dies from on duty injuries

Saturday, June 4, 2011

DOUBLE LODD: Second SFFD Firefighter dies from on duty injuries

A second San Francisco firefighter died in early this morning, victim of a deadly house fire in San Francisco's Diamond Heights neighborhood.

Anthony "Tony" Valerio, a 53-year-old firefighter and paramedic critically injured in the Thursday blaze, died at San Francisco General Hospital at about 7:40 a.m. this morning.

The fire department held a press conference Saturday morning in front of San Francisco General Hospital where Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, flanked by Mayor Ed Lee and surrounded by an estimated 100 firefighters, announced that veteran firefighter Anthony Valerio had died at 7:40 a.m. that today.

Firefighter, Paramedic Anthony Valerio.
Courtesy San Francisco Fire Dept.

Valerio, 53, and colleague Fire Lieutenant Vincent Perez, 48, were both rushed to the hospital after they were found badly injured during the Thursday morning blaze inside a four-story home at 131 Berkeley Way.

Perez died upon arriving at the hospital after going into cardiac arrest.

Valerio had fought for life for almost two days after being pulled from the blaze with Perez, but his lungs were damaged from smoke and filled with fluid, Tom O'Connor, president of the San Francisco firefighter union, had said Friday. Valerio also suffered a heart attack at the scene of the fire.

He needed a ventilator to breathe and was "medically paralyzed," his family had said.

Public memorial service for both SFFD Lt Vincent Perez and FF/PM Anthony Valerio will be held at St. Mary's Cathedral and is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. this Friday

Official Details: http://www.sffdlocal798.org/

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Saturday, June 4, 2011