Firefighter Fatality

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has received notice of the following firefighter fatality:

Name: Jeffrey Scott Bowen

Rank: Captain

Age: 37

Gender: Male

Status: Career

Years of Service: 13

Date of Incident: 07/28/2011

Time of Incident: 1230hrs

Date of Death: 07/28/2011

Fire Department: Asheville Fire Department

Address: 100 Court Plaza, PO Box 7148, Asheville, NC, 28802

Fire Department Chief: Scott Burnette

Incident Description: Captain Bowen responded with his fire department to a four alarm fire at an office building.  While engaged in search and rescue operations, Bowen became disoriented, succumbing to the intense smoke and heat from the fire and going into cardiac arrest. RIT members located Captain Bowen and removed him from the structure but Captain Bowen did not survive his injuries. Several other firefighters were injured in the incident. None of the injuries are reported to be life threatening.

Incident Location: 445 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC.

Funeral Arrangements: Visitation for Captain Bowen will be held from 1800-2100hrs on 08/01/2011 at Biltmore Baptist Church, 35 Clayton Road, Arden, NC. Memorial Services will be held at the church at 1100hrs, 08/02/2011.

Memorial Fund Contact and Address: A Fallen Firefighters Fund has been established to help the family of Captain Jeff Bowen, who lost his life, and for his partner Jay Bettencourt, who is currently receiving treatment at the burn center in Augusta, Georgia and for other City of Asheville firefighters injured while battling a four-alarm fire at 445 Biltmore Avenue on July 28, 2011.

Mission Health System, in cooperation with the Asheville Fire Department, has created the Fallen Firefighters Fund to assist the families impacted by the July 28 fire. Mission Health System will match all contributions up to a total of $10,000.

The full amount of all contributions donated will go to the families, with no administrative charges applied. The Asheville Fire Department will distribute the funds. Contributions are tax-deductible and receipts will be issued by The Foundation. When all contributions have been distributed, any donor who wishes to view the usage of the funds may contact the Foundation for a full listing of all the payments made.

Anyone interested in contributing to the Fallen Firefighters Fund may do so online www.missionfoundation.org  or may mail contributions to Mission Foundation, 980 Hendersonville Road, Suite C, Asheville, NC 28803.  Please mark your checks "Fallen Firefighters Fund."

For additional information, please contact Kelley Webb, (828) 251-4011 or kwebb@ashevillenc.gov.

Tribute is being paid to Captain Jeffrey Scott Bowen at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/

To date, 54 firefighter fatalities have been reported to USFA in 2011; 49 from incidents that occurred in 2011 and five from previous years’ incidents.  Year-to-date monthly and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted online @ http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/fatalities/statistics/ff_stats.shtm.