Prince George's County firefighters remember Marine killed in Afghanistan

The Prince George's County community is mourning the loss of firefighter Christopher Slutman who was killed Monday evening while serving with the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan.

Slutman, a staff sergeant in the Marines, was killed when a car bomb detonated near Bagram Airbase where a security convoy was positioned. Slutman and two other Americans were killed and an Afghan contractor was wounded, officials said.

"My heartfelt prayers to the families of the Americans killed near Bagram. I condemn this disgusting terrorist act," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted late Monday. "U.S. service members have sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan to keep us safe and no cowardly act of terror will impede our efforts to achieve peace."

Slutman, who had served with the New York City Fire Department for 15 years, was from Prince George's County and started his firefighting career in Maryland.

The firefighter and Marine, who was a married father of three, began his volunteer service at the Croom Fire/EMS Station where his father was a career firefighter, according to the Prince George's County Fire Department.

He then moved to volunteer at the District Heights Station before becoming a live-in member at the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department on Landover Road.

The Kentland Volunteer Fire Department said Slutman joined Company 33 in February 2000 and served as a lifetime member for 19 years. Slutman worked his way through the ranks, earning his way from wagon driver to captain, according to fire officials.

"Through this trying time, we will remember Chris for the father, husband, brother, son, and friend that he was, the moral character he displayed daily, and the courage and conviction to serve his fellow Americans, both at home and abroad," Kentland Volunteer Fire Department Chief Oleg Pelekhaty said. "We ask for your thoughts and prayers for his firehouse brothers, his fellow Marines, his friends - but most of all, his family."

Slutman was also a career firefighter with the DC Fire Department for seven years before launching his career with FDNY, according to officials. Slutman's brother is currently a firefighter with the DC Fire Department.

Slutman was the recipient of the 2014 Fire Chief's Association Memorial Medal for rescuing an unconscious woman from a burning apartment building in the south Bronx.

FOX 5 DC reported this story from Washington, D.C. FOX 5 NY contributed to this report.