Union Beach Firefighter Killed in Blaze

Shore firefighters mourning the death of Union Beach firefighter Robert Meyer who died of a heart attack while battling a 4-alarm fire on Sunday.

Fire on Union Avenue in Union Beach (Monmouth County Police, Fire & EMS Facebook page)

The Monmouth County Medical Examiner's determined Meyer, a member of Union Hose Fire Co. #1 in Union Beach, died at 7:17 a.m. of cardiac arrest at Bayshore Community Hospital according to a statement issued by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

"The Bayshore community and Monmouth County residents are mourning the loss of a man who volunteered his time to help those in need," said first Assistant Prosecutor Marc C. LeMieux in the statement.

Earlier, the Prosecutor's Office says Meyer had left the burning building and collapsed outside of it Sunday evening. NBC 4 New York reports Meyer had made several trips in and out of the Hydrair warehouse during the evening.

An unidentified firefighter told the Asbury Park Press he was "devastaed" by Meyer's death and "I lost my best friend in the whole world."

Meyer was also a member of Belford Engine firefighters which shared their grief on their Facebook page. "There are no words to say other than Bob was one of the good ones who done a lot for Station 3,"

Meyer had lost his own home in Superstorm Sandy, and had just moved into a rebuilt home last week.

Fire officials were taking photographs of electrical wiring outside the hydraulics shop that burned and will release more information about the fire later Monday afternoon.

Bar owner Gigi Liaguno-Dorr says Meyer would sometimes bring flowers to people to cheer them up. She says the town, still struggling to recover from the 2012 storm, has suffered another major loss.

The Asbury Park Press reports Meyer was the recipient of a Carnegie medal for Heroism for helping to rescue a man from a dump truck that burst into flames after an accident.