Tom Cooper had been in the department for only seven months, barely enough time to experience the excitement that a rookie fire fighter has during his first few years. On the day he was critically injured, he was riding on Engine 1 at Station 1. The crew had been at the corner of Chartres and Ruiz practicing hose lays and had just rolled up the last hose when they were dispatched to a trash fire shortly after noon. The rolled hose, used for the drill, was put on the tailboard of the engine where Cooper was riding and the crew took off down Ruiz Street en route to the location of the trash fire. As Engine 1 turned the corner at Hamilton and Congress, Cooper, possibly trying to prevent one of the rolled hoses from falling off, fell off himself. Ambulance 1 transported Cooper to Saint Joseph Hospital where he died of head injuries two days later.