Updated: Listed by the USFA on 11 March 2025.
While preparing to respond to a structure fire, Assistant Fire Chief Don Caylor collapsed on the station floor. Other Ridgeville Volunteer Fire Department firefighters found Assistant Fire Chief Caylor upon their return to the station after the fire and pronounced him deceased.
Age: 66
Rank: Assistant Fire Chief
Classification: Volunteer
Incident date: Mar. 9, 2025
Date of death: Mar. 9, 2025
Cause of fatal injury: Unknown
Nature of fatal injury: Unknown
Activity type: Responding
Emergency duty: Yes
Duty type: Responding
Fixed property use: Residential
The number of on-duty deaths for 2025 currently is 16.
Go here to read the number of interior line of duty deaths for 2025.
Fatality status is provisional and may change as USFA contacts State Fire Marshals to verify fatality incident information.
For more information about on-duty deaths as recorded by the United States Fire Administration go to “Firefighter Fatalities in the United States.”
Earlier:
By Bill Carey
10 March 2025
RIDGEVILLE, Ind. — The Ridgeville Volunteer Fire Department is mourning the loss of Assistant Fire Chief Donald “Hev” Caylor, who died after an apparent heart attack while preparing to respond to a mobile home fire on 8 March.
Caylor, 61, had dedicated over 40 years to firefighting, serving with multiple departments throughout his career, WTHR reported.
WISH reported the department believes Caylor died of a heart attack after he was found on the floor while gearing up to go to the fire.
The Randolph County Coroner’s Office reported that Caylor’s exact cause and nature of death will be determined by an autopsy at a later date.
Photograph courtesy of Randolph County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook.
Data Not Drama 