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Ex-NJ fire chief dies after fall down Pa. slope

1 min read

BETHLEHEM (AP) – Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say a former New Jersey fire chief died after a fall down a steep embankment overlooking the Lehigh Canal towpath.

Officials in Northampton County said 56-year-old Barry Stires of Philipsburg, N.J. was clearing brush in Bethlehem Township when he slipped and fell 50 to 60 feet at about 1:40 p.m. Sunday.

Rescue workers took him to St. Luke’s University Hospital, where the Lehigh County coroner said he was pronounced dead about an hour after the fall.

Officials said Stires lived in Lopatcong, N.J. and had been a police detective and fire department chief, and more recently was a fire inspector.

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