Fireman Dies Following Call

Ted Stafford Jr., a longtime Sag Harbor Fire Department volunteer, died on Monday night after collapsing in the driveway of his village house. Because he had responded to a call a few hours earlier, it is being considered a line of duty death, according to Tom Gardella, the department’s chief. He was 73.

The Fire Department had been called at about 6:15 p.m. to stand by for a medevac landing at Havens Beach for an 11-month-old, who was being airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital after suffering injuries in a fall. Mr. Stafford went to the firehouse to take over dispatching duties. After the call was finished, he attended a meeting at the firehouse, which began at 7 p.m. He went into cardiac arrest two and a half hours later.

The Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps was called to Mr. Stafford’s house, on Palmer Terrace at 9:35 p.m. He had just gotten back from the firehouse, Chief Gardella said.

“If somebody dies within 24 hours of being at a call, that’s considered a line of duty death,” the chief explained. While he had not been involved in fire suppression, which would trigger an investigation by the Department of Public Employment Safety and Health, Mr. Stafford’s family may be entitled to certain benefits.

“Let’s face it, it’s a stressful thing,” the chief said of responding to calls, regardless of in what capacity. “He was there for us. Did it contribute to him passing a way? I don’t know. I can’t make that determination.”

Mr. Stafford was a retired Southampton Town police officer, a Navy veteran, and a former Sag Harbor Village Board member.

A wake will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., with a firemen’s service at 7:15 p.m. A funeral will take place at the Old Whalers Church in Sag Harbor on Monday, though the time had not been set by press time.

A full obituary will appear in a future edition of The Star.