On Monday March 18, 1996, The Tidewater Fire Photographers suffered a tragic loss. One of the founding members was killed while fighting a fourth alarm blaze at Advance Auto Parts on Indian River Road in Chesapeake.

The following story was printed in The Virginian-Pilot on March 19, 1996

by: Mike Mather, Staff Writer

A FIRE BUFF DIES FIGHTING HIS FASCINATION

Frank Young loved to chase fires.

While on-duty, he chased in protective gear as a 15-year veteran of the city's Fire Department. Off-duty, he chased with his camera as the president and co-founder of the Tidewater Fire Photographers Association.

Young was what people call a “fire buff,'' because even his off-duty hours were consumed with a desire to be near fires and the people who fight them. He collected memorabilia from the nation's fire departments and photographed their men and women in action.

The 38-year-old Virginia Beach father headed the 15-member group of like-minded buffs who keep constant vigil over local police and fire scanners. When a fire is reported, a network of radios and pagers alerts the members who dash to the blaze barely a step behind the screaming engines.

Young was usually the first on the scene.

Monday, he was again among the first to arrive as flames spread through an auto-parts store on Indian River Road.

But this time, he was on duty, and he died in the fire.

Young and his engine-company partner, 10-year veteran John R. Hudgins Jr., were trapped by falling debris in the rear of the Advance Auto Parts store. Their deaths are the department's first on-duty fatalities in more than 20 years.

Hudgins, 32, was also a father and lived in Chesapeake. His family could not be reached Monday and the Fire Department released scant information about him.

Fighting fires is a dangerous job, but for many years members of local fire departments have been fortunate. The last line-of-duty death here was in 1992, a year when the job worsened the medical conditions of two Portsmouth firefighters, who later died.

But throughout the nation, an average of 29 firefighters die yearly, according to the latest available figures. Most, like Young and Hudgins, died in burning buildings, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The rate of job-related fatalities for firefighters is more than three times that of the private sector, according to the international association. And one in three firefighters will be injured while on duty each year, statistics show.

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