Services set for volunteer firefighter

March 7, 2008 at 1:16a.m.

The community is getting ready to bury a hero.

GROVE CITY, Pa. — Twenty-one-year-old Brad Holmes pretty much lived for the Pine Township Engine Company.

“He lived and breathed for it,” said Dan Thompson, a captain in the volunteer fire department who has known Holmes all his life.

Holmes’ father, Joe, now the department’s assistant chief, is one of its founding members. Brad “hung out” a lot at the station, said Thompson.

That devotion led him to be on the second floor a week ago today in a house fire on Garden Avenue in Grove City. He and another firefighter were searching for Patricia Andrews Smith, 40, who lived in half the duplex, when they became trapped.

They were rescued, and fellow Pine firefighter Scott King escaped with minor injuries.

But Holmes was severely injured. He spent five days at the burn unit at UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh with burns over 75 percent of his body.

He died early Wednesday, the second fatality claimed by the fire. Smith also perished.

A fire marshal with the state police has said a hair dryer left running caused the blaze.

Now, the Pine Township department and the rest of the community is getting ready to bury a hero — “Brad will always be my hero,” said his brother, Christopher Holmes, who is also chief of the department.

Brad lived in Pine Township with his parents, Joe and Deborah. He worked part-time at the Grove City Wal-Mart and studied computers at Slippery Rock University, Thompson said.

Computers and the fire department kept him busy, Thompson said — Brad designed the department’s Web site and was the go-to guy when the station on Barkeyville Road had computer problems.

He became an associate member of the department when he was 17 and joined it when he was 18.

Now, as the department deals with the shock of having lost its young member, it’s good to have so much support, Thompson said.

“It’s floored us,” he said.

He said his department has been on the other side of other tragedies, offering its support. “And I thought I knew what to expect. But I can’t begin to describe the outpouring of support —¬†from fire departments all over the country.”

The last firefighter from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys to die in the line of duty was Eddie Conricote, 55, of Belmar Drive in Liberty Township, Trumbull County. Conricote died in February 2004 after he fell off the back of a truck and struck his head at a fire scene.

Funeral home visitation for Holmes will be 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Cunningham Funeral Home, 306 Bessemer Ave., in Grove City.

There will be a memorial service for firefighters only at the funeral home at 7 p.m. Fire departments who are sending representatives should send them to the Fellowship Community Church, 309 North Broad St. in Grove City, no later than 6:15 p.m.

Firefighters will proceed on foot from the church across the Shawn A. Graham Veterans Memorial Bridge to the funeral home.

The funeral will be open to the public. It is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Grove City College Physical Learning Center. The college is at 100 Campus Drive in Grove City. Fire department representatives should arrive there no later than noon. Departments sending apparatus should call the Mercer County Department of Public Safety at (724) 662-6100, Ext. 2440. A fund has been established at the Northwest Savings Bank, 200 S. Center St., Grove City, Pa. 16127. Donations should be marked for the Firefighter Brad Holmes Memorial Fund.