Young Firefighter Dies In Downstate Fire
PINCKNEYVILLE, Ill. (STMW) - A 22-year-old firefighter died Friday night, hours after a wall collapsed on him while battling a blaze that engulfed an antique store in Downstate Pinckneyville.
Corey Shaw was married with a young child and had joined the Du Quoin Fire Dept. in 2010, according to Pinckneyville Fire Chief Jim Gielow.
Corey Shaw's father, who is the fire chief in Du Quoin, was also working at the time and witnessed the tragedy, Gielow said.
Shaw and his father were assisting in fighting the fire that broke out about 3 p.m. at the Pinckneyville Antique Mall at Main and Jackson streets in the small rural town, the chief said.
The blaze was raging out of control, and Shaw was in an alley moving a ladder and preparing to "back everyone out'' of the building so they could fight the fire defensively when a wall collapsed on him, Gielow said.
He was pulled from the bricks and rubble "instantly" and stabilized at a hospital two blocks away but died hours later at another hospital in St. Louis, Mo., where he'd been airlifted, the chief said. Another firefighter with Shaw was not injured.
"We worked together on a lot of major incidents,'' said Gielow of the father-son firefighting team.
Services will be held next week.
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