MONTGOMERY, Mass. (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Department of Fire Service along with local fire departments are remembering Montgomery Fire Chief Stephen Frye, who died in 2017 while working to put out a house fire.
On December 6, 2017, Chief Frye and the Montgomery Fire Department were called to a chimney fire that quickly evolved into a house fire. Deputy Chief Chris Galipeau recalls seeing Frye holding a section of the fire hose, then a few minutes later he heard someone yelling “Firefighter down.” Frye was rushed to Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield, where he died a short time later.
Frye had been Chief of Montgomery’s volunteer fire department for 13 years and a member of the department for 25 years. He left his wife and two adult children, one, like his dad, a volunteer firefighter, who was with him that ill-fated night.
According to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, Frye grew up in Chicopee, graduated from American International College, and built his family’s home in Montgomery.
