A 33-year-old New York City firefighter collapsed and died the day after battling a house fire in Queens, city officials announced Thursday.

The cause of firefighter Jesse Gerhard’s death Wednesday has not been determined, but it is considered a line-of-duty death, the officials said.

“The entire city mourns for the loss of this firefighter, a young man that dreamed to be a firefighter all his life,” a somber Mayor Eric Adams said at a City Hall news conference Thursday.

Adams, who traveled to the hospital where Gerhard was taken after collapsing, said it was “impactful” to speak with the firefighter’s parents, brother and co-workers, who “attempted to give him the same first aid and CPR they give to a countless number of people every day.”

According to the fire department, Gerhard was part of the first ladder company to arrive at the scene of a three-story house in the Rockaways that was engulfed in fire Tuesday afternoon. The fire was brought under control in about two hours and caused minor injuries to four people, the department said in a news release. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Gerhard was on duty at his firehouse at 11 p.m. Wednesday when fellow firefighters “heard a noise like a collapse and responded to find him unconscious,” acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.

Gerhard’s colleagues performed CPR and brought him to a nearby hospital, but he could not be saved, Kavanagh said.

Gerhard first joined the fire department as an emergency medical technician in 2014 and became a firefighter in 2018.

A resident of Long Beach on Long Island, he is survived by his parents, his brother and his sister-in-law.

“As a firefighter and an EMT, Jesse Gerhard served our city with incredible courage and valor, always rushing into danger and risking his life to save others,” Kavanagh said. “Our entire Department is in mourning over the tragic death of this extraordinary young man who always answered the call and never wavered in his sworn duty to save others.”

(AP)