Three days after returning back to work after taking time off to recover from a stroke, the 23-year veteran of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service for whom the HERO Act is named after, died.
Master Firefighter Christopher Higgins, 46, was hospitalized on Oct. 19, 2024 after experiencing a stroke. He utilized his job’s shift substitution policy to take time off, rather than medical leave, according to the Line of Death Duty Report released March 4 by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Higgins, who was assigned to the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department, reported back to work Jan 8, 2025. Then, on Jan. 11, 2025–his second shift since returning to work–Higgins worked at a single-family home fire in Laurel as part of Montgomery County’s mutual aid agreement.
Higgins collapsed after throwing a ladder, according to the report. He was “unresponsive and unconscious” when paramedics responded, the report stated. Higgins was transported to a hospital. Although resuscitation efforts continued throughout, he “never regained a pulse.”
A review of Higgins’ medical records showed he had a congenital heart condition. While hospitalized for the stroke, he also had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, according to the report.
“This diagnosis was never reported to the department’s physician, and since [Higgins] used shift substitution rather than medical leave for his recovery, a return-to-work medical evaluation was never conducted,” according to the report. “Though it is not possible to determine conclusively if this contributed to the fatality, the lack of a return-to-work medical evaluation by a provider with occupational health expertise was a missed opportunity for promotion of firefighter safety.”
MCM reached out for a comment from Fire Chief Corey Smedley, but did not receive a response at the time of this publishing.
The report included several recommendations to prevent similar cases in the future. One of many listed was to “ensure that a physician familiar with the essential tasks of firefighting” be a part of the return-to-work physicals and evaluate shift substitution and medical leave policies to make sure the correct one is used.
About one year after his death, Montgomery County officials signed a bill to make sure surviving families get financial support more quickly.
The time a family gets financial support following a career firefighters’ death is now within 60-days of a duty death under the law. Higgins’ widow, Lisa Higgins, attended the bill signing and thanked those involved for helping her and her two children receive her late husband’s pension more quickly.
