"She was always quick to help somebody," Martin said. "She was very passionate. She loved kids and she was crazy about animals."
Rebecca Garrisi, 28, and her infant son Jesse, 11 months, died after a Grand Traverse Metro fire engine slammed into the sport-utility vehicle in which they were riding Tuesday afternoon.
Fire truck operator Cory Carlton, 26, drove through a red light at the Zimmerman and Silver Lake roads intersection in Garfield Township on the way to a fire call and struck Garrisi's vehicle, investigators said.
Matthew Garrisi, Rebecca's 28-year-old husband, was driving their vehicle. He was released Wednesday afternoon from Munson Medical Center in Traverse City.
Martin said Rebecca attended school here and "married her high school sweetheart." Rebecca and Matthew also have a 4-year-old daughter who was not in the vehicle.
Grand Traverse County Sheriff Scott Fewins said investigators determined the intersection traffic signal was red for east-west traffic when the collision occurred. The fire truck was westbound and the Garrisi vehicle was northbound.
Fewins said it appears the fire truck did not slow for the intersection.
Fewins said emergency vehicles displaying lights and sirens are not required to come to a complete stop but must slow, check traffic in all directions and proceed with caution.
The sheriff's department is investigating the crash, and the fire department is conducting a separate internal inquiry.
Carlton is a five-year member of the department and serves Garfield Township Battalion 11, said Randy Agruda, Grand Traverse Metro's public information officer.
Agruda said Carlton is a paid part-time fire department employee and is on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. He said Carlton completed required training for fire truck operation.
Michigan Secretary of State records show Carlton was ticketed in 2003 for driving 60 mph in a 55 mph zone, received a citation in 1999 for obstructed vision or control and received a "driver improvement warning letter" in 1997. The letter is automatically generated by the state after a driver accumulates a given number of points on their license. Additional information was not available.
Fewins said Carlton voluntarily took a sobriety test and no alcohol or drugs were found in his system.
Records show Matthew Garrisi had no driving violations on his record going back seven years.
Fewins said investigators had yet to definitively determine the two vehicles' speed, what the drivers could hear or see and whether the truck's lights and sirens were on.
Authorities are still interviewing witnesses, he said, and accident reconstructionists are working on the case.
Fewins said a report would be forwarded to Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider.
The fire truck was responding to a chimney fire at Boone's Long Lake Inn. Agruda said department protocol is for the first unit on the scene to call with an update. He said reports Tuesday indicated sparks were coming from the building's chimney, so personnel continued to extinguish the fire.
Fewins said sheriff's investigators have requested records of those calls.
Jesse's car seat was ejected from the vehicle with him in it but appeared to have been secured properly, Fewins said. Rebecca and Matthew Garrisi were wearing seat belts, he said.
Agruda said there was one firefighter in the passenger seat of the truck and two other firefighters on the truck. Those riding in the vehicle were wearing seat belts, which is required, and none of them sustained injuries, he said.
A man who answered the telephone at Carlton's home Wednesday afternoon said Carlton was unavailable for comment.
