An off-duty Jersey City firefighter died in a car accident early Thursday morning.

Matthew Nierstedt, 29, was killed and three others were injured after a crash in Jersey City.

“This is a tragic day for the Jersey City Fire Department and the Jersey City Police Department,” said Jersey City Fire Chief Steven McGill.

Police say that Nierstedt was a passenger in the car when it collided with another vehicle just after 2 a.m. on Paterson Plank Road at Congress Street.

Nierstedt’s fellow firefighters responded to the scene and tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Nierstedt was said to have been delivering toys for the fire department’s toy drive earlier in the evening, but the circumstances of the crash are still under investigation.

Chief McGill said that he was with Nierstedt’s family at the hospital after the crash.

“I actually called the fire department chaplain and he came to console the family and read the victim his last rites,” the chief said. 

Nierstedt served four years in the U.S. Navy before joining the Jersey City Fire Department. His father, grandfather and uncle also served the fire and police departments. His family says that he was supposed to take the fire captain’s exam this weekend.