Funeral arrangements for the veteran fire engineer who died after he suffered a medical emergency during a training exercise are set for later this week in Norwood Park, officials announced Monday.
Visitation for Steven Decker will take place Thursday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Colonial-Wojciechowski Funeral Homes of Chicago, according to the Chicago Fire Department. The funeral is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. the next day at St. Paul Lutheran Church located at 5650 N. Canfield Ave.
Decker, 61, died last Thursday during an annual experimental test on the city’s Far North Side. He died of natural causes due to heart disease, the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled.
Decker was a fire engineer with CFD who had spent nearly 30 years on the job and was assigned to Engine 71 in the West Ridge neighborhood, per fire officials.
“Steve gave everything in service to the people of Chicago and his courage and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” CFD Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt stated in the wake of Decker’s death. “Our deepest condolences go out to the Decker family, fellow firefighters and paramedics and all who cherished him.”
The death is the department’s second in recent months, following fourth-generation CFD firefighter Michael Altman, who died in March after suffering critical injuries at the scene of a fire in Rogers Park.
“We are heartbroken by losing another one of our own,” Nance-Holt said last week.
