ROSE QUINN and CINDY SCHARR
Courtesy of The Daily Times, Delaware County, PA
It's been a rough week for emergency rescuers in Delaware County. Last week, Media EMT Caterina DiGiacomo died of injuries she suffered in a two-car crash. The driver of the second car was an Upland Fire Co. volunteer, apparently on her way to a call in Brookhaven.
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Officials at the Brookhaven Fire Company said the viewing and funeral for junior firefighter Christopher Kangas, 14, will take place on Thursday, May 9. Viewing will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Bateman Funeral Home in Brookhaven, followed by a procession to the Borough Hall at 2 Cambridge Road, where the memorial service will take place. Officials said Kangas, a one-year member of the department, will receive a full firefighter's funeral. Any company wishing to send apparatus may contact the station at 610-872-8093.
The family requests that any donations be sent to the Brookhaven Fire Company, at 4218 Barlow in Brookhaven, PA 19015. The department can be reached by email at station52@brookhavenfd.org
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Early Sunday, 14-year-old Chris Kangas died after being struck by a newly licensed 16-year-old. Kangas, a junior volunteer at Brookhaven Fire Co., was responding to an alarm that he heard while sitting in the home of a Brookhaven police officer.
Caterina got her start in EMS at Leedom Fire Co. She moved to Media and joined her hometown company.
"She loved running with Media Fire Co.," Leedom's Ambulance Capt. Jennifer Yingling told us.
Soon after the accident involving Caterina, Brookhaven Fire Co. Chief Rob Montella told the Times that any time anything happens to a fellow volunteer, it hurts all of them.
Montella was first on the scene at Kangas' accident.
As Kangas - who would have turned 15 today -- lay at Children's Hospital, his brothers and sisters from Company 52 in Brookhaven were gathered there with him.
One of the firefighters got close to his ear and whispered he was not alone. "Company 52 responding," he told Chris in the familiar firefighter exchange.
Junior firefighters can suit up and practice with the pros, but Pennsylvania law prohibits them from actually fighting a fire.
According to Brookhaven Fire Co. President Jon Grant, all Kangas wanted to do was to be a fireman.
Chris will be buried Thursday with full honors. His casket will ride atop one of the trucks. He'll take one last ride by the home he shared with his mother in Hilltop - and the home he shared with fellow members of Company 52 at the firehouse.
Caterina and Chris, thank you both for your dedicated service in Delaware County.
Rest peacefully.
Grief Unites Delaware County, Pennsylvannia Emergency Workers