Report Cites Tactical Errors, Policy Gaps In Leonardtown Firefighter’s Death

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — The Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department recently released a 145-page independent report on the June 27, 2023, death of Firefighter Brice Clayton Trossbach — a Leonardtown volunteer and career firefighter at Naval Air Station Patuxent River — who fell through a collapsing floor while crews advanced above an unrecognized basement fire. The department commissioned the review to ensure lessons from St. Mary’s County’s first line-of-duty death would lead to systemwide safety reforms.

Trossbach, 25, “died in the line of duty” after “a series of catastrophic collapses” dropped the first floor into the basement shortly after crews crossed the front threshold at the Deer Wood Park Drive home, Fire Chief Christopher Bell wrote in a letter introducing the report. “After a long and exhausting effort,” Trossbach succumbed to his injuries, the report notes.

The third-party review team — led by Anne Arundel County Assistant Fire Chief Larry Schultz — reconstructed the incident from helmet-camera video, radio logs and interviews. Investigators describe video evidence of “a catastrophic collapse of the 1st and 2nd floors as well as the roof,” with fire “from the basement below” breaking through the first floor seconds earlier. The medical examiner listed multiple injuries due to collapse as the cause of death.

Beyond the collapse dynamics, the report faults core elements of incident management. Key officers “failed to communicate critical information back to Chief 1” — including visible structural damage, rapidly advancing fire and ineffective hose streams — information the incident commander needed “to adjust his incident action plan,” the report says. Task saturation of the incident commander is flagged as a recurring LODD factor, and investigators observed “no clearly defined incident command structure” with inconsistent accountability on scene.

Accountability lapses were extensive. “There is no single unified policy within the St. Mary’s County system that addresses incident accountability,” the team wrote, adding that crew-integrity violations were observed throughout operations and RIT efforts. Recommendation: “immediately propagate, approve, and implement a county-wide mandated incident accountability policy.”

System-level governance is the report’s top priority. It urges St. Mary’s County to replace a patchwork of station-specific practices with a county authority “with full authority to propagate, codify, and enforce policies and procedures that impact Fire/EMS operations.” Absent written, enforced SOPs, the report warns, “preventable mistakes, preventable loss of life (civilian and firefighter), and preventable loss of property are sure to happen again.”

Operational recommendations include declaring strategy and mode, completing and communicating a 360-degree assessment, standing up a command aide earlier, standardizing CAN (Conditions-Actions-Needs) reporting, and adopting specific SOPs for rural water supply, basement fires, MAYDAY/RIT and tactical withdrawal. The report also calls for countywide training aligned to NFPA standards and annual command-competency evaluations.

The methodology underscores its scope: more than 75 interviews, multiple helmet-cam videos, photos, CAD data, radio audio, PPE examinations and outside references informed the findings.

Bell said the department convened the outside safety review “to conduct a thorough, transparent, and honest review of the incident” and develop changes to “prevent or minimize the impact of future, similar events.” The department has begun work on the recommendations, according to the report.

Trossbach, remembered by colleagues for his quiet professionalism and unwavering commitment to service, balanced his volunteer role in Leonardtown with his full-time position as a firefighter at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

Read the full “Firefighter Brice Clayton Trossbach — After Action Report and Improvement Plan” below: