Father of fallen firefighter found dead

Published 12:00 am Monday, August 27, 2012

SPENCER — The father of a fallen firefighter was killed in an accident involving a pickup off U.S. 29 North this afternoon, authorities say.
Eddie Monroe, 67, of Spencer, was found trapped under a red pickup in a ditch alongside Fieldcrest Cannon Lane, near the former Color-Tex (N.C. Finishing Co.) plant. The vehicle appeared to have come to rest against a fence.
Emergency officials said there were no passengers in the vehicle.
Monroe’s son, Justin, was one of two firefighters killed in the Salisbury Millwork Fire in 2008. 
Emergency workers responded shortly after 3 p.m. Bobby Fox, chief of the Miller Ferry Fire Department, said that at first firefighters didn’t know someone was injured because the original caller saw only the vehicle.
Monroe died at the scene, officials said.
Fox said the firefighters knew Monroe well because Justin had been a volunteer with Miller Ferry.
Also responding were Rowan County EMS, the Rowan County Rescue Squad, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Department, the Spencer Police Department and the N.C. State Highway Patrol.
The accident occurred shortly after another deadly accident. Two teens were killed and a woman was injured in a collision on Sherrills Ford Road.


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