Strother volunteer firefighter dies after firehouse fight

“When the Lord sees our attention is drifting away from him, He might use hardships to draw us back so that we'll give Him His proper place,” he wrote last week.

Patterson, a 56-year-old volunteer firefighter for the Strother Fire Department in Seminole County, died Thursday after getting into a fight with a fellow volunteer firefighter.

Now, Fire Chief Nicholas Nadeau said he and his crew are feeling that test of faith.

“We are a very tight knit family,” Nadeau said. “Dale was a God-fearing Christian. I think he would tell us to pick our heads up and move on.”

According to the Seminole Producer, Nadeau said Patterson and another firefighter were fighting in the fire station when Patterson's head struck a hard surface.

He was taken to Seminole County Medical Center and then by helicopter to OU Medical Center, where he died.