Charlotte firefighters are mourning the loss of a fellow firefighter who collapsed and died while on duty at Station 23 Friday night.

Kent Long was a 17-year veteran of the Charlotte Fire Department, spending the last nine years at the station on W.T. Harris Blvd.

"Kent was very dedicated, very religious, and very devoted to his family," said Fire Chief Luther Fincher at a media briefing Saturday morning. A wreath of red carnations and white roses encircling a picture of Long in his firefighter’s uniform stood nearby.

Fincher says Long was exercising when he collapsed on the Fire Station lawn. Long would run wind sprints from the station to Hickory Grove Baptist Church next door, then walk back, said Fincher. He was found by a passer-by who alerted firefighters that he was unconscious.

“We don't know if he had just started, or hadn't started at all, or was just finishing,” said Fincher about Long’s exercise routine. “We just don't know at this time how long he'd laid in the grass.”

Firefighters on-duty with Long determined he had no pulse and administered a shock from a defibrillator. A Medic team staged at the site also tried to save Long’s life before transporting him to Carolinas Medical Center. Their efforts didn’t revive him.

Chief Fincher describes the crushing blow to professionals who save lives daily. “To see their own brother die in front of them and using everything medically possible that we've taught them, and it doesn't work..” said Fincher, “They were very distraught last night when I talked to them in the hospital. They’re very emotional – they’re very shook up right now."

Engineer Brad Duncan worked with Long for five years at Station 23 before switching shifts. He described Long as a likable guy. “Everybody got along with Kent,” said Duncan.

Duncan also says Long was devoted to his work – an avid baseball fan and former baseball player at Garinger High School, who loved being a firefighter. “He always did his job well. He cared about his job. He stayed in shape, cared about helping people,” said Duncan.

Long’s devotion to firefighting showed in an interview he did with 6News after September 11th. He said shortly after the World Trade Center attack that his first impulse was to help. “When it first happened, I told my wife that I would love to be there to lend a hand, do whatever... man a fire station, just any way to help them out, " said Long at the time.

He described feeling closer than ever to fellow firefighters at the time of the tragedy. “"I think it’s made the bond closer probably,” he said at the time. “Just the bond of the whole fire department."

That’s the bond his co-workers describe as they mourn their loss. “He's a good friend,” said Duncan. “He'll be missed.”

Funeral arrangement had not been completed by Saturday afternoon. They are being handled by McEwan Funeral Home on Morehead Street in Charlotte.

Autopsy results should be complete next week