| Name | John Cummins |
| Agency | Homer Fire Protection District |
| Rank | Firefighter |
| Type of Firefighter | Volunteer |
| Age Range | 46 to 50 |
| Sex | Male |
| Date of Birth | 0/0/0 |
| Date of Death | 2/8/2017 |
| Cause of Death | Stress/Overexertion |
| Nature of Death | Heart attack |
| Attribute of Death | [not applicable] |
| Type of Duty | Responding to/returning from incident |
| Incident Name | N/A |
| Incident City | Homer |
| Incident State | IL |
| Incident Date | 2/7/2017 |
| Incident Location | Street/Road |
| Incident Attribute | Medical emergencies |
On February 8, 2017, John Michael Cummins of the Homer Fire Protection District died in the line of duty following a medical response call.
On February 7, 2017, Cummins responded to a motor vehicle accident around 11:45 p.m. On his way home from the response, Cummins lost consciousness at the wheel of his personal vehicle due to a sudden cardiac arrest. His vehicle struck three parked cars and a concrete flower pot before coming to a stop. Members of the Homer Fire Protection District responded and performed CPR. An ambulance arrived on the scene at 1:05 a.m., and provided advanced cardiac life support care both on scene and on the way to the emergency department at Carle Hospital in Urbana. Cummins regained a pulse several times, but no organized cardiac activity was found. Resuscitation efforts ceased at 1:52 a.m., when he was pronounced dead.
Cummins was a volunteer firefighter for the Homer Fire Protection District, as well as many others. He was employed by Crop Productions Services in Sidney. Funeral services were held on February 13th at Homer New Life Church of Faith and he was interred at Old Homer Cemetery in Homer. He was survived by his father and stepmother, widow, sister, four children, and eight grandchildren.
Citations:
"Firefighter Fatality Notification for John Michael “Mike” Cummins," U.S. Fire Administration.
Mary Schenk, “UPDATE: Fallen Homer firefighter ‘never missed a call,’” news-gazette.com, February 8, 2017.
Mike Cummins, Obituary, news-gazette.com, February 10, 2017.
Additional Resources:
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/pdfs/face201712.pdf