08/05/2026
🕯️ Remembering Assistant Chief Jamie Middlebrook — August 5, 2014 🕯️
Twelve years ago today, our fire service family lost one of its own. Assistant Chief Jamie Middlebrook, with more than 20 years of dedicated service, gave his life fighting a commercial structure fire, killed when a roof and truss system collapsed while he worked to protect his community.
Chief Middlebrook wasn't just a fixture on the fireground — he was a lifelong servant to his community.
On the night of the fire, witnesses recalled him pushing forward at the north side of the structure, working to protect equipment and cylinders inside — always thinking about what could be saved, always willing to go the extra step for the mission. That same night, a rapid intervention crew risked everything trying to reach him, a testament to the brotherhood he was part of and helped build over two decades of service.
Chief Middlebrook's legacy lives on every time a firefighter double-checks a collapse zone, calls for a safety officer, or trains harder on incident command — lessons drawn directly from the tragedy of that night meant to keep others safe. Today we remember not just how he died, but how he lived: in service, in training, in showing up for his neighbors again and again.
