Mehdi Mourad, a Moroccan volunteer firefighter in Matton, Illinois died of injuries sustained in a crash while responding to duty on Sunday, last week.
Mehdi Mourad, 21, was a volunteer firefighter with the Wabash Fire Protection District.
The Fire Protection District issued a statement, saying that it is “mourning” the loss of the volunteer firefighter.
The statement said that Mourad “lost control of the vehicle and rear-ended a vehicle driven by 54-year-old Karen Smith, of Centralia.”
Smith and her 12-year-old daughter sustained “non-life-threatening injuries,” the statement said.
Herald Review said the incident took place at around 4:31 p.m. on Sunday, June 27 local time.
The news outlet quoted Wabash safety officer, Gary Kepley, who said on Monday that Mourat asked his fellow firefighters to call him “Matt.”
He joined the fire department just five days prior to the crash.
He said the man was from Morocco and was attending Lake Land College on a student visa.
“He had relayed to the family how excited he was to be in the fire department. He was going to be a great asset to this department,” Kepley said.
The safety officer said he was impressed by Murad and his willingness to help.
“He just had a passion to get on a fire department and that young man showed up here, not knowing any of us [sic], and asked if he could apply, which says a lot about his character to walk into the unknown,” he said.
