On bended knee, Fire Chief Gary Kuntz Jr. led a service Thursday evening for firefighters Marvin Gruber and Zachary Paris, who died fighting a fire a year ago to the day in Schuylkill County.
“Tonight we are here to pay our respects to our fallen brothers and their families who have been through so much in the past year,” Kuntz said. “We kneel for two men who gave their all, and they would do it again in the blink of an eye.”
Kuntz was joined by about 100 family members and firefighters at a candlelight vigil in front of Community Fire Company in New Tripoli.
A display of Gruber and Paris’ turnout equipment was surrounded by 100 flickering votives.
Kuntz began the vigil with a moment of silence for the fallen firefighters and the 2,335 service men and women who gave their lives during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 82 years ago.
On Dec. 7, Kuntz said, the community suffered a tremendous loss. Families were shattered, and the community was shaken to its core, he said.
In the candlelight, Kuntz found strength.
“Together, the flames, just like our fire team, are strong,” he said.
Donald Christ, a veteran firefighter, paid tribute to Paris with three clangs of a fire bell. Scott Koenig, the company’s chief engineer, sounded the bell in Gruber’s honor.
The names Gruber and Paris are emblazoned on a new tanker truck and the date of their last call — 12.7.22 — is memorialized in an “Always and Forever” metal sculpture mounted on the firehouse wall.
A dark day
At 4 p.m. Dec. 7, 2022, firefighters responded to a reported house fire at 1121 Clamtown Road in West Penn Township.
Smoke billowed from the white clapboard farmhouse, and there was evidence of fire at the rear and in the basement of the house.
Three alarms brought units from four counties — Schuylkill, Carbon, Berks and Lehigh.
Wedged on the southeast corner of Schuylkill, West Penn Township lies only minutes from New Tripoli, which is on the opposite side of Blue Mountain in Lynn Township, Lehigh County.
Details remain sketchy, but at some point Gruber and Paris entered the burning building in search of a person reported to be trapped inside.
Both were experienced firefighters, and Paris was a professional on staff at the Frederick County Department of Fire and Rescue in Maryland. As it turned out, no one was trapped, and the firefighters were unable to make their way out of the burning building.
Details are being investigated by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, state police and West Penn Township police. The results have not been made public.
Authorities believe the fire, which a state police fire marshal ruled an arson, was set by Christopher Kammerdiener, who lived in the house. His body was later found in a wooded area at the rear of the property.
Dr. David J. Moylan III, Schuylkill County coroner, ruled Kammerdiener died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Without hesitation
Family members say Gruber and Paris, experienced and dedicated firefighters, would have rushed into the fire without hesitation.
Firefighting was ingrained in both men, who retained a deep sense of duty to the fire company and the community.
When he was a boy, Paris would ride his bicycle to a firehouse near where he grew up in Blandon. He began volunteering as a firefighter as a teenager. Paris, a 2005 graduate of Fleetwood High School, began volunteering at New Tripoli in 2010.
From his Lynn Township home, Paris drove to the Frederick County Department of Fire and Rescue, where he was a professional firefighter. The 36-year-old father of two daughters managed to find time to volunteer at Community Fire Company, where he was an assistant chief.
Gruber, 59, mentor to young firefighters, had worked a full shift before turning out for the West Penn Township fire. He was assistant director of public safety for Northampton Community College in Bethlehem for 22 years.
In October, a state Senate committee approved a measure to rename a portion of Route 443, which runs past the firehouse, for Gruber and Paris.
A son’s tribute
Deputy Fire Chief Nick Gruber, Marvin’s son, recounted the worst day in the 78-year-old fire company’s history.
Responding to a routine fire, he recalled, “Things quickly went from zero to 100 miles an hour.”
It showed that even people with top-tier training, like his father and Paris, are not immune to the dangers and risks of fighting fires.
In a vote of confidence to his fellow firefighters, Gruber said the team did what it was trained for.
“I truly believe we did everything we could that day, with the cards we were dealt,” he said. “I’m so proud of the team. Stay strong, and let’s get through another year.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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