LOWER MERION >> For the second time in three weeks, Lower Merion officials are mourning the loss of a firefighter after being killed in the line of duty.
Firefighter Tom Royds, serving with the Belmont Hills Fire Co., died after he and two other firefighters and a state police officer were struck by a vehicle while responding to a crash on the Schuylkill Expressway near the Gladwyne exit.
“He just loved being a firefighter,” Lower Merion Chief Fire Officer Chas McGarvey said during a press conference Saturday afternoon.
The incident began when members of the Belmont Hills and the Gladwyne fire companies were called to a crash on I-76 just west of the Gladwyne exit Saturday at 3:04 a.m.
As units were preparing to leave the first crash scene, an uninvolved vehicle struck three firefighters and one Pennsylvania State Police Trooper.
Royds went into cardiac arrest and was transported to Paoli Hospital. PennSTAR and JeffSTAT flew the two other firefighters to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The state trooper was taken to Penn Presbyterian by ambulance. The conditions of the others were not immediately known.
The driver of the striking vehicle was taken into custody. The crash remains under investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police.
According to court records, Jacquelyn Walker, 63, of Little Egg Harbor, N.J., was charged numerous felonies including homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI and aggravated assault by vehicle.
She was arraigned in Lower Merion and incarcerated on $500,000 bail in front of Magisterial Judge Henry Schireson.
Royds was a career firefighter with the Union Fire Co. in Bala Cynwyd and was filling in on a shift with Belmont Hills. As a resident of Springfield, Delaware County, he was also a volunteer with the Clifton Heights Fire Co.
Royds began working with the Union Fire Co. in Bala Cynwyd as a career firefighter in 1988. He also continued serving as a volunteer in Clifton Heights after moving to Delaware County.
According to McGarvey, when responding to calls on I-76, Lower Merion firefighters provide blocking for the protection of the state police.
According to PennDOT’s website, a new law went into effect in April mandating drivers move at least one lane away from emergency responders. If they cannot move over, drivers are required to slow down at least 20 miles per hour below the posted speed limit. The new law also sets a $500 fine for a first offense.
Penalties then go up to $1,000 and then $2,000 for the second and third offenses.
“I can’t tell you how many times we go up there and people just fly by us,” McGarvey said. “I’m just asking you all, please slow down. Get out of the way. You see a fire truck coming, an ambulance, stop your car and move over. This didn’t have to happen.”
Royds leaves behind three adult children.
Sunday afternoon, firefighters and members of the public watched as Royds was taken from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office through Lower Merion to a funeral home in Havertown.
Royds is the second Lower Merion firefighter killed in the line of duty in less than a month. On July 4, volunteer firefighter Sean DeMuynck, while serving with the Penn Wynne/Overbrook Hills Fire Co., was killed during a fire on Rosedale Road in Wynnewood.
