Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Aurora firefighter and paramedic James Kenneth Podbregar, 58, died after suddenly taking ill at his Sleepy Hollow home Wednesday afternoon, according to fire department officials. In a statement Thursday morning, fire officials called Podbregar’s death a sudden passing that had given the department and city a heavy heart and great sadness.
Podbregar had been doing yard work at home Wednesday when he started to feel ill, according to Aurora fire and Sleepy Hollow police officials.
A friend drove him to the Sleepy Hollow Police Station at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Police Chief James Linane. The friend came inside the police station to report that Podbregar was not feeling well and was unresponsive. Of the three officers involved in the effort to save Podbregar, Linane was the first to the car. When he saw Podbregar, the firefighter was indeed unresponsive and appeared to be unconscious.
Police started trying to revive Podbregar and called the Rutland Dundee Fire Department. When firefighters arrived, they assumed resuscitation efforts, to no effect. Firefighters then transported Podbregar to Sherman Hospital in Elgin, where he was pronounced dead.
Podbregar was in his 18th year working for the Aurora Fire Department and had most recently been assigned to Medic 4. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son, according to Aurora fire officials.
Podbregar is the second of the department’s firefighters who died suddenly at home this month. Firefighter/Paramedic Michael Adamovich died May 8 at his Yorkville home of an undisclosed health problem.
thanks Dan
