Bassfield fire chief dies from apparent heart attack at fire

BASSFIELD, Miss. (AP) - A 73-year-old south Mississippi volunteer fire chief has died from an apparent heart attack while fighting a brushfire.

Jefferson Davis County Coroner Jim Slater tells local media that Bassfield Fire Chief Billy Matthews was pronounced dead Tuesday evening at Jefferson Davis Community Hospital in Prentiss. Mayor Patricia Courtney says Matthews was found slumped over in a fire truck and did not respond to efforts to resuscitate him.

The mayor says the fire department was trying to put out a fire near a church when Matthews died.

Courtney lauds Matthews’ devotion to volunteer fire service, telling The Clarion-Ledger (https://on.thec-l.com/2lhPdDW) that “he went to every fire.”