St. Thomas firefighter killed in motorcycle crash

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A St. Thomas firefighter has been identified as the man killed in a motorcycle crash near St. Thomas Thursday night.

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Calvi Leon • Reporter for the Initiative for Local Journalism Photo by Nicholas Cheesman (Submitted by the St. Thomas Fire Department)

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A St. Thomas firefighter has been identified as the man killed in a motorcycle crash Thursday night.

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Nicholas Cheeseman, 34, of Port Stanley, died at the scene after the motorcycle he was riding collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Elm Street and Coulter Avenue just outside of St. Thomas around 8:30 p.m., Elgin OPP said.

Cheesman has been a firefighter with the St. Thomas Fire Department for four years, said Kim Destun, chief prevention officer.

“We’re still processing (the news),” she said. “It was devastating. We are a relatively small and close-knit department. . . . We just hope to support the family in any way we can.”

The crash happened on the same day the OPP held a press conference to raise the alarm about the region’s rising motorcycle fatalities so far this year.

Thursday’s fatal crash brings this year’s motorcycle death toll to 13 on OPP-patrolled roads in the Western Region, an area that covers Southwestern Ontario, compared to seven so far last year in the region.

In fatal crashes this year, motorcyclists were at fault for 70 percent of collisions, prompting the OPP to urge drivers to take extra safety measures on the roads.

“As you can see, we have a problem with lethal consequences,” said Insp. Sean Johnson of the OPP West Region Traffic and Marine Unit said at Thursday’s news conference.

This year’s death toll is still below the all-time high in 2016, when there were 19 motorcycle fatalities in the Western Region. The lowest number, seven deaths, was recorded in 2012.

cleon@postmedia.com

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