Firefighter remembered for
leadership, reading fires
Jerry Conyers was Rick
McFarlane's captain on the Newton Fire/EMS department, but talking to Conyers,
it's easy to hear if he wonders who was really leading the crew.
"Rick was known on the
department as one of the most respected firefighters," Conyers said.
"We was a smart firefighter and could really read a fire."
McFarlane died Sunday, losing
a long fight with cancer. He was 49.
He followed in his father's
footsteps - Jim McFarlane was a member of the department for 37 years before he
retired in 1998.
Rick had five children and
was a life-long Newton resident.
McFarlane was more than a
firefighter and EMT, he was a leader of the department who had a special way
with children.
"I told him when we get
calls on babies and small children I am the lead technician, but when we get
there it was 'OK, he'll take this,'" Conyers said. "Being the big
brute he was, you would have never have thought about him that way. ... He just
did so well with kids."
He also loved fighting fires
- and his partners often could hear him attack a fire when he got there.
His love of fighting fires
led to his skill - he could read a fire and tell what was going on. Conyers
said McFarlane was aggressive when it came to fighting a fire.
"I can remember one day
he was driving the truck, and we were the first unit on the scene,"
Conyers said. "There was a lot of smoke. I was trying to figure out what
we were looking at, and he just said 'basement fire,' and he was right. That
was a good read and saved us a lot of time. I remember thinking I should be
doing that."
McFarlane also loved the
outdoors and barbecuing.
One of his many talents was
cooking - he took cooking for the members of his shift seriously and expected
everyone else to, as well.
"If you didn't put
effort into a meal, he'd let you know," Conyers said. "He liked to
eat and cook. And he could eat a lot."
