Prince George’s firefighter Jesse McCullough honored at national memorial service

A Prince George’s County firefighter whose career ended in the county’s own ranks was among 204 fallen firefighters honored at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, a national ceremony that also carries a deeply local meaning for the department he served.

Fire Technician Jesse Wade McCullough, who died Oct. 9, 2018, at age 41 from complications of cancer, was remembered during the 45th annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend at the National Emergency Training Center campus. The Memorial Service was scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, and the weekend recognized firefighters whose names are being added to the Roll of Honor, including 97 who died in 2025 and others from earlier years.

McCullough served more than 10 years in fire service, including time with the Baltimore City Fire Department before joining Prince George’s County Fire/EMS in 2013 as a member of Career Recruit Class #47. After graduation, he was assigned to Landover Hills Station 830 on B shift, a detail that anchors his memory in the county stations where younger firefighters still learn the routines, risks and discipline of the job.

His loss did not end with the memorial wall. Prince George’s County later awarded McCullough a Gold Medal of Valor, and the Maryland General Assembly passed the Fire Fighter Jesse McCullough Cancer Protection Law in his name. Together, those recognitions turned one firefighter’s death into a lasting warning about occupational cancer and the duty to protect those who answer the alarm.

The National Fallen Firefighters Memorial is the nation’s official monument honoring firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice. The foundation that oversees the memorial says its mission is not only to honor fallen fire heroes, but also to support their families, colleagues and fire organizations while working to reduce preventable firefighter death and injury. For Prince George’s County Fire & EMS, that mission is not abstract. It is tied to a technician who worked in Baltimore City, served in Landover Hills, and left behind a safety legacy that still reaches into training, staffing and cancer awareness across the county’s fire service.