A 17-year veteran of the Clark County Fire Department died of a heart attack while on duty Tuesday.

Richard Washington, 49, suffered a heart attack at Fire Station 16, on Nellis Boulevard near Charleston Boulevard, around 10 a.m., a Fire Department spokesman said.

Paramedics tried to treat him at the scene and he was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, the spokesman said.

"We extend our thoughts and prayers to his wife Mary and his three children," Fire Chief Steven Smith said in a prepared statement.