It was 6 in the morning and, despite not being on duty, he had taken the bus to reach the headquarters in via Codussi, where he was supposed to meet with some colleagues from USAR (Urban search and rescue), of which he was an instructor. , to go to Milan and participate in an exercise. Instead, the 44-year-old firefighter Francesco Donati he collapsed due to a sudden illness and never woke up. He died yesterday, Thursday 11 April, after three days in a coma.
The illness
As he explains The Echo of Bergamo, who gives the news, there is nothing that can be done for him, suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage, despite his immediate transport to the Pope John XXIII hospital. As soon as his death was declared, the doctors began to proceed with the removal of his organs, as he himself had decided, because he thought it was his duty as a firefighter. Francesco, resident in via Puccini in Longuelo, leaves his partner Zairathe children aged 11 and 14, the mother Tiziana and his brother Matteotwo years younger.
Work and passions
A lover of sport, the outdoors, the mountains and his work, over the years Donati had become a specialist in Saf, the river speleo rescue, but also in Usar, searches under the rubble, so much so that he participated in the front row in rescued after the avalanche in Rigopiano and following the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa.
Funeral home in command
His family accepted the proposal of the provincial fire brigade commander Vincenzo Giordano to set up the funeral home at the command. It will be open from this afternoon. The commander stated a The Echo of Bergamo: «We are in disbelief and astonished: Francis was generous, sensitive, in the front row of relief efforts in major national disasters. He never held back. But, even before being a firefighter, he was a 44-year-old man and a father: we are close to the family.” The funeral will be celebrated in the parish church of Longuelo on Monday at 10am.
