25-year-old firefighter dies while swimming off California coast: authorities

Officials say an off-duty firefighter was found dead along the shoreline after swimming in the ocean off the coast of Southern California.

Caeden Laffan, 25, of Sacramento, went to Pacific Beach with friends in the early morning hours of June 27, the San Diego County Coroner’s Office said in a news release.

The office said about 30 minutes later, a friend contacted authorities and said he didn’t see Laffan in the ocean.

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San Diego police told KUSI-TV they received a 911 call about a missing swimmer just before 2 a.m.

The medical examiner’s office said friends and rescue workers searched the area.

Two hours later, rescuers found him on the coast north of Crystal Pier. He was pronounced dead at 4:17 a.m., according to the office.

Laffan, a firefighter-paramedic with the Oakland Fire Department, was in the city for the California Summer Firefighting Games, KUSI-TV reported.

According to a news release from the fire department, Fire Chief Damon Covington said Laffan was “a young, enthusiastic member of the Oakland Fire Department with a bright future ahead of him.”

“We are all devastated today to learn of this tragic event,” Covington said in the release.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao echoed that sentiment in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“My thoughts are with the Laffan family as I join them, our Oakland Fire Department and our city in mourning the loss of an exemplary young man who helped keep our communities safe,” Thao wrote.

Laffan’s father, Sean Laffan, who was a deputy fire chief for the city, died at age 42 while on duty in November 2020, according to the department.

According to a post from the fire department on X, Laffan was promoted to the rank of paramedic.

“It breaks my heart. Words cannot express the pain we all feel over the loss of Caeden Laffan,” Covington wrote on Facebook. “A truly special young man passed away far too soon.”