A fund has been established in memory of an Orange Rural Fire Department firefighter who died while on duty Monday.

Officials identified 32-year-old Jeff Holden as the firefighter who died at the main station in Hillsborough on Monday afternoon after going out on a response call. Holden, the assistant chief of training and safety for the department, was one two firefighters who entered a trench on Monday to rescue a construction worker who was trapped on West Ten Road in Efland.

Holden was certified in trench rescue, according to the department.

“Chief Holden was a critical piece of our organization and will be forever missed,” deputy chief Mac Cabe said in a release Tuesday.

Officials said Holden “participated in equipment maintenance” upon arriving back at the department’s main station. He was later found unresponsive. Revival attempts by the crew and emergency workers were unsuccessful.

“Chief Holden did so much with developing our firefighters, and he leaves a void that can never be filled,” said Batallion chief Jonathan Capps, who was the other firefighter who entered the trench with Holden on Monday.

Holden had joined the department in some capacity before turning 18. He then was employed by the department as an official firefighter beginning in 2003.

“He was a firefighter’s firefighter,” department chief Jeff Cabe said Tuesday. “Most of the things a firefighter would see by the end of career, he saw in his first 30 days.”

Cabe added that Holden had held positions at every level of the department.

“It’s devastating,” Jeff Cabe said of the loss of Holden. “We sat down yesterday and tried to think about all he had done. He touched everything. We’re a small department; we depend on all our folks to do everything that needs to be done even if it doesn’t fit the job description. Jeff was one of those people. I can’t even fathom at this point what the impact is going to be on our operations.”

Other area departments assisted Orange Rural Fire from Monday night through Tuesday afternoon. The department resumed full operations at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Holden is survived by his wife and child.

A share account has been established by the Hillsborough Firefighters Association at the Local Government Federal Credit Union for the family.

If you would like to donate, you can do so by visiting any State Employees Credit Union Location and making a deposit in the “Scholarship Fund for Miller” account.

Funeral arrangements were announced for Holden on Wednesday. A service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at New Horizon Church in Durham. The Orange Rural Fire Department will cease operations during that time; the department’s coverage area will be serviced by the Mebane and Lebanon fire departments.

Photo via Orange Rural Fire

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