By James Burger
The Bakersfield Californian
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Kern County Fire Department is preparing to bury one of its own, Fire Chief Brian Marshall said Monday.
The co-workers of Kern County Fire Engineer Brian Massey, who died Saturday, are remembering his expertise, his skill in the firehouse kitchen and his smile.
“He was in the fire service because, for him, it was more than a job. It was a calling. This has been a huge reality check for all of us who worked with him,” said Kern County Fire Captain Robert Hudson.
It’s a reminder, he said, “to try to live each day as full as we can.“
Massey, 56, had been at home following a 48 hour shift of duty at the Maricopa fire station, his home station, for roughly 14 hours Saturday when he died as the result of a “significant medical event.”
Marshall said he doesn’t yet know the exact nature of the event that took Massey’s life. That will likely be determined and reported by the Kern County Coroner’s office. But right now it looks like Massey died as a result of a condition tied to his work.
Massey, Marshall said, died in the line of duty.
So the fire department is getting ready to memorialize him with full honors.
“We work with tragedy every day but when it strikes your own it’s tough,” Marshall said. “The family is planning the funeral as we speak. As soon as that’s planned the pieces will start falling into place. Ultimately we want to support the family.”
Marshall said he has created an incident management team to handle the situation, including the deployment of individuals to coordinate and support Massey’s family.
The department will also analyze the reason for Massey’s death, evaluate what could have been done to prevent it and work to implement changes to prevent something like it from ever happening again.
Other individuals are tasked with working with other fire agencies that might want to pay their respects and with law enforcement agencies that would need to help if a full funeral procession is planned for city streets and state highways.
“We want to make sure the family’s wishes are taken care of,” Marshall said. But, as “firefighters, we want to be there. We want to show the support for the family. We will have a procession of Kern County Fire Department vehicles.”
Massey was a pitcher at West High School as well as Biola University, said Hudson, who also noted that the Angels hired him to throw in batting practice sessions for the major league team.
Massey started a landscaping business in high school and kept that up even after he was hired by the Taft Fire Department.
When the Taft department was absorbed into the Kern County Fire Department, Hudson said, Massey came along.
“My first structure fire I got to fight with Brian Massey,” Hudson said.
Hudson said today the one thing that keeps running through his head was Massey’s smile – throwing around inside jokes and seeing the roguish twinkle in the firefighter’s eye.
“We had a great working relationship,” Hudson said. “We both loved to cook. When we worked together we ate pretty well.” They often disagreed, though, about who was the better cook – a situation that often led to even more cooking.
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But ultimately, just ahead of the fire service, Massey’s top priority was his family — three adult kids and some grandchildren.
Massey died within 24 hours of the end of his shift. His in-the-line-of-duty death qualifies his family for a federal death benefit.
According to the U.S. Office of Justice website, that benefit is $343,589, which is awarded for injuries, including strokes and heart attacks, sustained in the line of duty.
Interim County Counsel Mark Nations said certain causes of death, such as a heart attack, are automatically considered to be job-related, often making the family eligible for workers compensation death benefits.
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