Burt Bruecher, 46, Lone Occupant of Unit
Posted: Updated, November 16, 1999 - 3 PM
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NICOLE LOZARE
Firehouse.Com News
PLEAK, Tex. -- A volunteer firefighter died Sunday afternoon, Nov. 14, when the tanker
he was driving rolled over, fire officials said. No one else was in the
unit at the time of the crash.
Burt Bruecher, 46, was responding to a fire call for bales of hay on fire at the time
of the accident.
He was rushed to Polly Ryan Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Bruecher was a volunteer firefighter for the Pleak Volunteer Fire Department since 1996.
He was also a Senior Engineer for Lambert in Houston.
"He was a good, friendly, happy man," Pleak Fire Chief Aubrey Ritch said.
"Everyone loved him. He loved the fire department."
Ritch says Bruecher was an easy going guy who, once in awhile,
would wear a hat with a little umbrella on top for laughs.
He is survived by his wife, Paty, two daughters and a
granddaughter.
Memorial services for Breucher will be held on Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at the
Forest Park Funeral Home in Pleak. Funeral services are Thursday at 11:30 a.m.,
also at the funeral home.
A memorial fund has been established in Bruecher's name:
- Citizens National Bank
4825 Sweetwater
Sugar Land, Texas 77478
Bruecher was the third U.S. firefighter to be killed in the line of duty from
an apparatus-related accident in the last five weeks.
On Nov. 3, an Indiana fire captain died
from injuries sustained in a rollover accident.
Also on Nov. 3, a firefighter in Pennsylvania
died after falling off an open cab ladder truck while responding to an alarm
bells call.
And on Oct. 5, a fire captain in Texas
was killed and two other firefighters injured in a collision.
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