A civil trial will begin Monday in Whiteside County Circuit Court to determine whether the widow of a Sterling firefighter, killed in the line of duty in 2021, should be paid damages in connection with his death.

Brittney C. Ramos is suing the city of Rock Falls and the two lead firefighters who were at the scene of the December 2021 residential fire that claimed the life of her husband, Lt. Garrett Ramos. She is specifically claiming the death resulted from then-Fire Chief Cris Bouwens and Deputy Fire Chief Ken Wolf, now the department’s chief, not following proper procedures.

The city, Bouwens and Wolf have countered that they have immunity under Illinois law. They also said Ramos was partially responsible for missteps that contributed to his death in the Dec. 3, 2021, fire. The fire lasted until Dec. 4, and Ramos died that day.

Ramos, a Sterling firefighter who was working the fire while his department was providing mutual aid at the scene to the Rock Falls Fire Department, was discovered unresponsive and out of air in the basement of the home about 30 minutes after two of his mayday calls went unanswered.

Brittney Ramos, who is seeking in excess of $50,000 in damages, filed her suit in Whiteside County Court on Dec. 1, 2022, three days before the first anniversary of her husband’s death.

Four months after his death, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration released its initial incident report, dated March 8, 2022, outlining multiple “willful” errors made during the fire. The final report was released in December 2022, and as a result, the cities of Sterling and Rock Falls paid a combined $36,000 in fines for “lapses” in each department’s policies and procedures.

Those lapses that contributed to Ramos’ death from “asphyxia caused by inhalation of products of combustion due to a structure fire,” according to the report.

While the direct cause of Ramos’ death was “exposure to respiratory hazards,” the indirect causes were a failure “to identify the presence or absence of a basement,” and a failure to ensure that firefighters entering the home “were operating on the designated [radio]frequency,” among others, OSHA said.

Among other things, Ramos’ suit cites the OSHA findings and cites Bouwens’ failure to assess that the home at 10031 Ridge Road had a basement.

“One of the most basic responsibilities of a supervising firefighter is to immediately determine if a structure has a basement before directing firefighters into the structure,” according to the suit. “This information is vitally important because a basement increases the risk that the fire will damage the floor beneath the firefighters, and in-turn increase the risk of the floor collapsing resulting in serious injury or death. ...”

The suit also accuses Bouwens and Wolf of failing to call off firefighting efforts when the garage was destroyed and the home was engulfed, when part of the roof collapsed, when part of the floor collapsed, and when the fire was deemed under control.

Each time, “there was absolutely no need to risk RFF or SFD personnel to remain in a home that contained no occupants and was not salvageable,” according to the suit.

It also cites their failure to identify and find Ramos after he made two mayday calls in the wake of the floor collapse.

Such errors constitute “willful and wanton violations of accepted firefighting practices,” according to the suit.

The defense asserts that Bouwens, Wolf, and the city were not the proximate cause of Ramos’ death, and that he ”was under a duty to exercise reasonable care and caution for his own safety.”

Ramos “failed to ensure that his radio was on the correct channel; failed to remain with his partners while fighting the subject fire; failed to refill his oxygen tank in a timely manner; and otherwise failed to exercise reasonable care and caution for his own safety,” the defense said. “Because decedent Garrett Ramos is more than fifty percent at fault in causing his own accident and injuries, his recovery is barred.”

Should Brittney Ramos win a judgment for damages, it should be reduced based on her husband’s role in his own death, according to the defense’s response.

Over the past two weeks, Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge James Heuerman has presided over court hearings to sort through motions in limine filed by the plaintiff’s attorney and defense attorneys to determine what evidence can and cannot be introduced to the jury.

A major point of discussion has focused on the OSHA report, with the defense team claiming that any conclusions or opinions offered in that report should be treated as hearsay and are therefore inadmissible.

The trial, in Morrison, could last up to two weeks and will begin with selecting a 12-member jury from the 160 people who will be called for jury duty, Heuerman said. The jury selection process will begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday. The selection process could take a couple of days because of the nature of the case and the number of people called in for jury duty, he said.