By TIM ROWDEN
Managing Editor
The St. Louis Fire Department is mourning the loss of Fire Fighter Benjamin Polson, who was killed battling a blaze in north St. Louis City on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022.
Polson, 33, was killed and two other fire fighters were injured when the roof the home collapsed. He is the first fire fighter lost in the line of duty in the city in 20 years, according to the department. All three are members of Fire Fighters Local 73.
Fire fighters responded to the fire in a vacant two-story home in the 5900 block of Cote Brilliante Avenue in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood just before noon, according to the department.
Fire fighters had put out the flames on the first floor and were checking the second floor to make sure no one was inside when the roof and top story of the building collapsed, said St. Louis fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson.
Jenkerson said Polson and another fire fighter were exiting the floor due the intensity of the flames when the collapse occurred.
The department later said a third fire fighter also was injured and taken to a hospital. Both of the injured fire fighters were treated and released.
Polson joined the department in November 2019. He was also the nephew of UFCW Local 655 Executive Assistant, Julia Polson.
‘WE GET PAID TO PROTECT LIVES’
Jenkerson said city fire fighters regularly respond to fires in buildings considered vacant, but search the buildings as a precaution to make sure no one is sheltering inside.
“St. Louis City Fire Department does a job every day in buildings that many departments consider buildings we shouldn’t enter,” Jenkerson said. “We know that people use these homes to stay warm; we know that people use these homes to provide protection against the different environments, and we go in a take a look.
“We get paid to protect lives. We get paid to take a risk, and you know, it’s hard to tell somebody on the street who is yelling and screaming at us that there might be someone in there, ‘Well, this risk might be too great,’” Jenkerson said.
“There’s no words to describe what the feeling is right now amongst the St. Louis Fire Department,” Jenkerson said. “The fire department is a huge family. There’s a lot of relationships on the inside that are involved here from sons to fathers. This kind of event weighs tremendously heavy on the entire department.”
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the building at 5971 Cote Brilliante Avenue was built in 1895. It is listed on the city’s vacant building registry and has been designated by the city as vacant since at least 2004, city records show.
It is one of roughly 10,000 structures listed a vacant in the city.
TRIBUTES AND SOLIDARITY
Tributes to Polson and expressions of solidarity poured in on social media.
- “It is with profound sadness and grief that we announce the tragic line of duty death of Firefighter Benjamin Polson,” The St. Louis Fire Department posted on its Twitter account. “Fire fighter Polson died while courageously fighting a house fire in the 5900 block of Cote Brilliante earlier today.
- St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones tweeted, “St. Louis is mourning the loss of one of our brave @STLFireDept firefighters on duty this afternoon. Our city prays for their family and their entire department after this terrible tragedy.”
- “Today, a #Firefighter with the St. Louis Fire Department was killed while bravely battling an aggressive house fire,” the Pattonville Fire Department tweeted. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters at the STLFD and the lost fire fighter’s family as they navigate the difficult days ahead.”
- “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and the entire STLFD department,” the St. Louis Labor Council posted on its Facebook page.
BACKSTOPPERS
“This incident is a sobering reminder of the real dangers our first responders face every day as they fight to keep our community safe,” said Chief Ron. Battelle, CEO of The BackStoppers, a non-profit organization that provides financial support and assistance to the families of first responders killed in the line of duty.
“Losing any first responders is a heartbreaking thing for each of us, but we will make sure they are never forgotten.”
You can contribute to BackStoppers online at https://backstoppers.org/donate or by calling (314) 692-0200.
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