Joshua Weissman, Alexandria EMT-P

[timlinson]

SHIRLINGTON, Va. — An Alexandria paramedic who fell from a cement barrier along Interstate 395 on Wednesday night has died, according to the Alexandria Fire Department.
Joshua Weissman who suffered a severe head injury in the fall, died at 4:25 p.m. Thursday. Weismann had been responding to a car fire near South Glebe Road in Shirlington when he fell into a rocky creek below the interstate.


Virginia State Police says Wednesday night, it received calls of two separate incidents at Interstate 395 near South Glebe Road at the Alexandria-Arlington County line. One call involved a three-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of I-395 while the other call involved a vehicle fire in the HOV lane, open to southbound traffic.


According to Virginia State Police, the Alexandria Fire Department responded to the scene of the car fire. Their ambulance stopped in the northbound lanes of I-395 along the HOV lanes to get to the vehicle. State police say separating the I-395 lanes from the HOV lanes are two cement barriers with a three-foot gap in between. There is no pavement between the two barriers, say police, much like other locations in that area.


Virginia State Police now say that Alexandria Fire Department paramedic Joshua Weissman, 33, of Bristow, Va. was climbing over the cement barrier to get to the vehicle when he fell through the gap and into Four Mile Run Creek, approximately 30 feet below the interstate.


Weissman, who worked out of the Seminary Road Station in Alexandria, was extricated from the creek by Alexandria City and Arlington County firefigthers and taken to Med Star with life threatening injuries.


The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Update: Medic dies of injuries after fall from Va. overpass


RIP!

 

[EMT-BLS]

R.i.p....

 

[chief1562]

R.I.P. Joshua we'll miss you here in Ithaca


A firefighter and paramedic, formerly of Ithaca, died Thursday after falling from a highway overpass while responding to a car fire in northern Virginia.


Joshua Weissman, 33, of Bristow, Va., a firefighter for the Alexandria Fire Department, responded to a car fire on Interstate 395 Wednesday night in Shirlington, Va. State police said two cement barriers with a 3-foot gap between separate the lanes. Weissman fell 30 feet to the creek below the interstate.


He was pulled from the creek by fellow firefighters and taken to Washington Hospital Center, where he died late Thursday afternoon of a severe head injury, Alexandria Fire Department officials said.


Weissman was a seven-year veteran of the Alexandria Fire Department. Fire officials say the last time an employee was seriously injured while on duty was 15 years ago.


Weissman worked at one time for Bangs Ambulance as a first responder. He joined the Cayuga Heights Fire Department as a teenager.


Cayuga Heights Fire Chief George Tamborelle described Weissman as dedicated to the profession. He even met his wife at the fire department.


"He was completely dedicated to helping others from the time he was 16," Tamborelle said. "All he's wanted to do was be a firefighter and a paramedic, and he's done that."


Thursday morning, Tamborelle said, "Josh is absolutely caring; you have to know Josh to really understand it. He is really a friend. He'd do anything for anybody. I know you say that about people, but with Josh it's so true. I probably wouldn't be chief if it wasn't for him