Watch Mourners Line Streets to Honor Fallen PA Firefighter
By Jana Benscoter
Source The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.
Nearly 36 hours after volunteer firefighter Jerome Guise died while battling a house fire, his family, friends, and supporters lined Baltimore Street in the small town of Mount Holly Springs to pay their respects as a procession of fire trucks escorted his body to a funeral home.
People stood alongside Route 34 as the procession, which began at noon at the Dauphin County coroner’s office and ended at Hollinger Funeral Home in Mount Holly Springs at 1 p.m.
Guise, 34, died when the front porch of a burning home on the 1500 block of Boiling Springs Road collapsed on him. A resident of the home, 36-year-old Jessica Diehl died after being trapped on the second floor. Another occupant of the home was severely injured.
"The alarm went off about 1 something early Monday morning,” said Carol Neumayer, whose husband is a firefighter with Mount Holly Springs Citizens Co. 36. "My husband was at home. He was listening to the fire on the scanner and received messages. This is heartbreaking. We all feel for people when they experience these losses.”
Being a firefighter ran in Guise’s family, Neumayer said. She said she is among many who are praying for his family, including his three children.
The painful loss felt is going to be felt by more than residents in Mount Holly Springs, said Carol’s father-in-law, Frank Neumayer, who stood alongside her as the procession passed.
"This is a close-knit group,” he said. “My son and Jerome responded to many accidents and fires together. It’s small-town USA. Matter of fact, South Middleton where my son started as a firefighter, merged with Mount Holly Springs. So the family is bigger — if you will — than just here. It’s just a tragedy — as we run from the fires, they’re going the other direction. My heart goes out to all the first responders.”
When the procession arrived, one woman yelled, “Here they come.” Many silently watching held their right hand over their hearts and wiped tears from their eyes.
Guise, a 17-year member of the fire company, graduated from Carlisle Area High School and worked as a forklift operator at Exel. A dozen fire companies rushed to the scene of the blaze around 1:30 a.m. Monday, finding the house fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters fought the fire for at least six hours as smoke continued to pour out.
"It’s not just the person who died, obviously it’s a piece of the families, that’s where it hits,” Frank said.
His company described Guise as "an all-around good and caring man,” who was willing to "help anyone who needed assistance.”
Guise is survived by his three children, his mother, father, and a sister.
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