Firefighters show support for family after city appeals line-of-duty death designation

By KPTV Staff

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    SALEM, Oregon (KPTV) — Oregon firefighters are coming together in Salem to seek justice for one of their fallen members whose line-of-duty death designation is being appealed.

Maurice Stadeli, more commonly known as “Mo,” served as a firefighter in Salem for 28 years before he was diagnosed with tonsillar cancer in 2018 and died a year later. Mo’s wife, Tina, has been fighting for her husband’s death to be considered a line-of-duty death, and she won that fight in 2021 through the Oregon Appellate Court.

Because cancer is the leading cause of death among firefighters, under state law, Mo’s death was considered a line-of-duty death.

However, about two weeks ago, on the last day the city of Salem could appeal they did so, saying his cancer diagnosis was not caused by years of being a firefighter, but say it was due to a pre-existing medical condition. The appeal came days after Mo’s name had already been placed on the IAFF memorial wall in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Not only could the appeal take away Mo’s line-of-duty death designation, but it would also take away the benefit’s his family would get.

The Salem firefighter union president, Matt Brozovich, released a statement, saying:

“This is all or nothing for his widow Tina. His estate was rightfully awarded a line of duty death benefit from the Oregon Appellate Court. If she loses that, she loses everything for a job that he loved and worked so hard for. Mo was a stand-up man, father, husband, brother and firefighter. To strip this away from his widow isn’t only wrong, it’s criminal.”

The reason the city of Salem is trying to appeal the designation is because they believe the Court of Appeals misinterpreted Oregon Workers Compensation Law. They say if their effort to appeal doesn’t work, then the city of Salem and other Oregon employers will pay higher insurance premiums because of an illness that was unrelated to working conditions.

“We face tough decisions and this is certainly one of them where we must balance our responsibility to all residents in safeguarding the City against future liability and protecting the City’s future fiscal health so that we can continue to serve our community,” the city of Salem said in a statement.

Monday night’s City Council meeting is expected to have quite the turnout from firefighters across the state in support of Mo and his family. The meeting is taking place at Council Chambers in Salem at 6 p.m.

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