Retired Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department Master Technician Raul Perla died Thursday due to occupational cancer.
Perla served nearly 28 years with the department after being hired as a firefighter in 1996, according to a department statement posted on Facebook.
A longtime member of the department’s urban search and rescue (US&R) and technical rescue teams, he deployed to 12 domestic and international disasters and was widely respected for his expertise in disaster response…