Grieving firefighters are back at work at the Ste. Anne East Fire Station after a colleague was killed in a collision south of Barrhead, Alta., Friday.
Joshua Pare-White was rear-ended by the suspected impaired driver of a truck as he tried to turn onto a side road on Highway 33 and Township Road 574.
“Josh was a tremendous asset and member to our family,” said Randy Schroeder, the station’s fire chief. “The members of the station here, they always have a smile when it comes to Josh.”
The 24-year-old was a volunteer firefighter for nearly five years. Colleagues are remembering him as kind, outgoing and someone who wanted to make a difference.
“He was definitely a brother to me,” said Josh Surette, one of the volunteer firefighters. “He looked out for me, looked out for all of us as a family.
“No matter the situation, if it was a bad call, you could talk to him and he’d put you in a better mood.”
Pare-White was part of the crew that saved two people from a carbon monoxide leak in 2018, Schroeder said.
The station reopened Sunday night. The mood is different without Pare-White, but Station Captain Brent Sanderson thinks he would have wanted his brothers to continue to serve the community.
“That wouldn’t be his style, to sit around and be sad. It would be to get back on the truck and get back there helping.”
The male driver has been charged and released from custody.
With files from CTV Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg
