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Firefighter falls to her death during graduation party
A terrible accident claimed the life of a D.C. Fire and EMS cadet. Sadia Williams died after falling from a rooftop terrace while celebrating her graduation with classmates. FOX 5's Bob Barnard reports tonight.
WASHINGTON - A terrible accident claimed the life of a D.C. Fire and EMS cadet.
Sadia Williams died after falling from a rooftop terrace while celebrating her graduation with classmates.
What we know:
Sadia Williams was just 21 years old. A firefigher and EMT who was part of the D.C. Fire and EMS cadet class that just graduated last Friday.
Williams had been assigned to engine company 13 in Southwest. You can see the American and D.C. flags at the station at half staff.
Williams was apparently celebrating with other cadets at a four-story townhouse on 16th Street, NE, when she fell from the rooftop around 1 a.m. The rooftop is surrounded by metal fencing.
D.C. police say they do not believe foul play was involved, though the circumstances are still under investigation.
What they're saying:
FOX 5 spoke to a woman who lives across the street and witnessed the aftermath. an image she says she can't get out of her head.
"It's sad because even seeing online, this young lady had a promising future and now it's gone," a neighbor said.
"I have family who are firefighters as well and they go through so much that they deserve to be praised and someone who wants to be a part of that, wants to go in and every day risk their lives to save someone else, it's a beautiful thing," D.C. resident Terrell Wilson told FOX 5.
"To lose your life so early and haven't even gotten a chance to truly find out who you are, what is you're calling in this life, what else you can do in this world? It's truly tragic," he continued.
Dig deeper:
Williams graduated with her cadet class last week. They are all D.C. high school graduates.
The ceremony was recorded on video. We're told the cadets still had two more weeks of training at the D.C. fire academy before going to her firehouse.
Dave Hoagland is president of the D.C. Firefighters Union.
"This is incredibly tragic news. She just graduated on Friday and was celebrating with her classmates and it's just a really tough loss for the department and all D.C. firefighters. We deployed our peer support team down to the training academy today to sit with her class and talk through things and their feelings and just to make sure that everybody's processing everything," Hoagland said.
FOX 5 is told her body remains at the Medical Examiner's Office at this time.
Even though hers was not an in-service death, Hoagland says Williams will receive an honorary send off.