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Historic logbooks detail fatal 1900s fire that shaped Leesburg Fire Department
Summary
Fire Chief Joe Mirra described discovering logbook entries showing that Chief Ned Stevens died while responding to an early 20th-century fire and that his brother signed subsequent reports, a story Mirra says exemplifies the department's tradition of service over self.
In research for a Leesburg Historical Society presentation, Fire Chief Joe Mirra said he reviewed old station logbooks and found an entry recounting a fatal fire that claimed Chief Ned Stevens in the early 1900s.
Mirra recounted that the department had two chiefs at the time who were brothers and that Ned Stevens, who wrote reports, died after a fire; "after the fire, the very next page... it was his brother signing the reports because he had obviously passed away," Mirra said. The chief characterized the episode as emblematic of a "service over self" ethic passed through generations of the department.
Mirra said the account in the logbook described the two brothers entering the structure to search for a reportedly missing child; only one air pack was available and one brother wore it. Mirra added that Stevens likely died from carbon monoxide poisoning after exiting the building. He presented the logbook material as part of the department's historical record and as background for the 150th anniversary programming.
