Castor firefighter dies in crash en route to a call: ‘A huge loss to our community’

The town of Castor, Alta., is mourning a firefighter who died en route to a phone call Friday night.

Firefighters are responding to a collision on Highway 599.

The town said in a Facebook post on Saturday: “The roads are extremely icy and travel is dangerous.

“However, because our firefighters have always gone above and beyond the requirements of their duty, they have gone despite the conditions.”

A fire truck lost control and ran over, resulting in the death of firefighter Stephen Rayfield and the injury of Fire Chief Patrick Kelly.

“It is a tremendous loss to our community,” Mayor Richard Elhard told Global News.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Rayfield family,” the town said in the Facebook post. “This is a traumatic event for all of our firefighters and their families, so please support them in any way you can in the coming days.”