A community in shock, and a local fire department is mourning the loss of one their own, after a junior firefighter has been killed, in what’s being called a freak accident. Punxatawney police say the incident occurred on Tuesday night, when 15 year old Thane Lucas was burning trash in Bell Township. According to police, Lucas was putting a bag of garbage into the burn barrel, when something inside of it exploded hitting him in the neck. A Mahaffey firefighter tells us Lucas’s brother, also a junior firefighter. did everything he could to save his brother. When crews arrived on scene, the teen was flown to UPMC Altoona hospital for treatment, but he later died from his injuries.

On Wednesday, the Mahaffey Volunteer firefighters were at a loss for words over the loss of a “brother”. The captain, Kenny Wetzel, saying he wasn’t just another firefighter, he was part of a brotherhood. The chief of the station said that Lucas had a bright future, and that he would have made a really great firefighter.

Right now, no word on when funeral services will be held. There will be counseling services available for the firefighters that had to respond to the call.