Fire chief of Texas town in region hit by wildfires dies fighting separate blaze
Fritch Fire Chief Zeb Smith, whose town is in the Texas Panhandle region were wildfires are burning, died responding to an unrelated blaze Tuesday, officials said.
The fire chief of a small town in the Texas Panhandle region where large wildfires have been burning died responding to an unrelated structure fire Tuesday, officials said.
Fritch Fire Chief Zeb Smith was responding to a structure fire in the city at around 7 a.m. when he went inside to check for people who needed rescue and never came out, a spokesperson for the Hutchinson County Office of Emergency Management said.
Fritch Fire Chief Zeb Smith.City of Borger's Office of Emergency ManagementSmith was first on the scene of the fire in the town of around 1,800, officials said. He was found by a rapid response team inside the home at around 7:30 a.m., emergency management office spokesperson Brandon Strope said at a news conference.
Smith's cause of death has not been determined.
“This structure fire was not directly related to the ongoing wildfires,” Strope said.
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