Fallen Montgomery County firefighter posthumously promoted to lieutenant

Public viewing and service for Christopher Higgins to be held Thursday

January 16, 2025 6:27 p.m.

Fallen Montgomery County Master Firefighter Christopher Higgins has been posthumously promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) spokesperson Pete Piringer announced Thursday.

Higgins died Saturday evening after suffering a medical emergency while fighting a blaze at a house in Laurel, MCFRS Fire Chief Corey Smedley said Saturday night in a press briefing. The cause of Higgins’ death has not been announced to the public.

Several fire departments across the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area have honored Higgins with a procession and several private funeral events are planned.

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A public viewing for Higgins will be held Jan. 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Light House Church, 6691 Baymeadow Drive, #200, Glen Burnie, followed by a fire department memorial service from 1 to 3 p.m. All are welcome at both the viewing and the service, according to MCFRS. More information is available on the department’s website.

The incident

MCFRS crews responded shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday to a call for mutual aid assistance by Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department to handle a house fire in the 15000 block of Bradford Drive in Laurel, according to Smedley and radio transmissions.

Smedley said an “emergency happened” and crews had to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts to Higgins, 46, who was assigned to the department’s Burtonsville station. He was transported to Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center in Silver Spring where he succumbed to his medical condition, Smedley said during the briefing at the hospital.

According to a statement from Smedley on Sunday, Higgins was performing his duties as a driver of a firetruck responding to the house fire. Although an investigation is ongoing, the statement said, an event occurred while Higgins was “throwing ladders to the house on Bradford Drive.”

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The body of the firefighter, who was a 23-year veteran of the department, was transported during a processional Saturday night to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner office in Baltimore to determine the cause of death.

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