Sources: Pittsburgh Firefighter Suspended After Overdosing On Heroin
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A firefighter with the Pittsburgh Fire Bureau has been suspended after he overdosed on heroin while on the job.
Sources confirm the incident happened inside the Pittsburgh Fire Bureau firehouse on Brookline Boulevard. It was New Year's Eve.
KDKA is not using his name or his photograph.
Sources tell KDKA that the firefighter, who was working overtime, passed out in what's called the sitting room. Sources confirm his line mates tried to wake him up and couldn't.
Sources confirm fellow firefighters, aware of his heroin addiction, used Narcan to revive him. He was hospitalized. Now he's suspended for 10 days and in rehab.
"Frightening that people that are supposed to be the ones saving other people… that's kind of sad that that's the experience," said Maddy Weyaid, a Brookline resident.
Weyaid lives right across the street from the firehouse and is concerned. She has a 3-year-old son and every day she says she sees signs of a heroin problem. She describes it as tragic.
"It's scary to see it," she says. "I mean, all up and down the streets. That, with the issues that go along with it, whether it be people asking for money, there's needles everywhere. It's not a pleasant experience."
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Sources tell KDKA the incident happened late when the firefighters were getting ready to go to sleep. Sources indicate if the firehouse didn't have Narcan, if fellow firefighters didn't know he was a heroin addict, he would have died.
No one with the fire bureau or the mayor's office would comment, citing privacy issues.
The bureau does have random drug testing. The current policy, if there's a positive test, is immediate suspension and rehab.
Sources are deeply concerned because the firefighter did drive to fire calls and fight fires.