FIREMAN GEORGE DAVID NASH

May 9, 1901 (Norwalk, CT) – February 2, 1961 (Norwalk, CT)
Married to Elizabeth Lassu Nash (1902-1975) on June 9, 1922 in Norwalk
One son Donald (1923-1987)
Last local address: 3 Strawberry Hill Avenue

From Norwalk Hour, February 10, 1961

VETERAN CITY FIREMAN SUCCUMBS FIGHTING BLAZE ON EAST AVENUE
George D. Nash, 59, Had Planned To Retire In May

George D. Nash, 59, a member of the Norwalk Fire Department for 36 years, collapsed and died Friday while fighting a fire in a two-family dwelling at 245 East Avenue. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Norwalk Hospital. He planned to retire in May upon reaching his 60th birthday.

The blaze at 2:13 p.m. was the first in a series of five alarms answered by the fire department Friday.

Two firemen were injured in a fire on Wolfpit Avenue. The lone occupant of the house, a well-known artist, has not been located and fire officials fear he may have perished in the flames.

In Ridgefield, firemen were hampered by lack of water as flames consumed a one-family dwelling.

Nash was appointed to the Fire Department on May 4, 1925 and was stationed in East Norwalk for many years. Prior to his appointment he served as a volunteer in the Mayflower Hook and Ladder Co. from 1921.

Nash is survived by his widow Elizabeth Lassu Nash and a son Donald who is also a fireman. He was a native of Norwalk, the son of Samuel H. and Augusta Taylor Nash.

The fire was in the second-floor apartment occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stone. Nobody was in the house when the blaze began. It started in the corner of the living room, where a stuffed chair had been and climbed along a doorway into the kitchen and burned through the ceiling into the attic and charred the roof. The entire second floor was gutted.

Nash, after being stricken, staggered out to an outside landing of the second-floor apartment. He was discovered by retired Deputy Chief Joseph W. Soltes, who called for help.

A resuscitator was used on the stricken fireman and mouth to mouth resuscitation was attempted by Police Sergeant James Tallon before Nash was taken to Norwalk Hospital by ambulance.

Cause of the fireman’s death was not determined. Fire Chief Charles A. Volk said he was wearing a smoke mask while in the apartment working against the fire.

Dr. William H. McMahon, medical examiner, has ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Mrs. Stone said Friday she had gone out to bring a friend to a doctor otherwise she would have been asleep. She had been confined to the house all week with a virus, she said.

Fire officials believe the blaze was caused by defective wiring in a floor lamp which set fire to the stuffed chair in the living room.

The alarm was sounded at 2:13 p.m. with recall at 4:02 p.m. The building is owned by Andrew Demeter of 40 Van Zant Street.

From Norwalk Hour, February 10, 1961

Funeral services for Fireman George D. Nash of 3 Strawberry Hill avenue, who died while fighting a fire on Friday, were held Thursday morning in the Collins Funeral Home, 92 East Avenue, with Reverend Edward L. Eastman, pastor of the East Avenue Methodist Church, officiating.

Interment took place in Riverside Cemetery with committal prayers by Rev. Eastman, pastor of the East Avenue Methodist Church. Pallbearers were Deputy Fire Chief Thomas F. Finnegan, Captains Eugene R. Seymour, Earl S. Carpenter and Harlin C. Bedell. Firemen George E. Roberts and Walter J. Morgan.

The funeral was very largely attended including a delegation led by Mayor John Shostak, Fire Commissioners Stanley Stroffolino and Norman Tobin, Fire Chief Charles A. Volk and other public officials, and an honor guard of all off-duty firemen and a detail of policemen led by Lieutenant Albert L. Frato.

This plaque hangs in the Broad River firehouse

Fireman George D. Nash is buried at Riverside Cemetery, Section 19, Norwalk