By Melissa Tait
The Waterloo Region Record
KITCHENER, Canada — Hundreds paid tribute at a funeral service on Saturday to a firefighter who died from fighting fires, although he hadn’t seen active duty in nearly three years.
Bill Duncan died of brain cancer on March 25 — an illness directly related to his work as a Kitchener firefighter for 33 years.
The former Kitchener fire captain was 56 years old — about the age an average firefighter retires.
“I loved what I did. Unfortunately, it will shorten my life, but I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Duncan told The Record in an interview last November.
When he was president of the Kitchener firefighters association, he advocated for the rights of firefighters with work-related cancer — long before he knew a cancerous tumour was growing in his brain.
“Bill was a champion for firefighters,” Kitchener fire Chief Tim Beckett said before the service.
“He was a true professional, and he loved the fire service,” Beckett said.
In 2007, the province passed legislation that makes it easier for firefighters to qualify for compensation for some occupational-related cancers and heart attacks. Duncan qualified for this compensation.
“He fought hard for what he thought was right, and even near the end when his health was failing him, he wasn’t bitter — he was still using his illness to show awareness for firefighters of the unseen hazards,” said current Kitchener firefighters association president Steve Jones.
Firefighters and emergency personnel from around southern Ontario followed fire trucks and bagpipers in a solemn procession on Frederick Street to the Henry Walser Funeral Home, where a private funeral service was held.
Inside, family and friends were joined by firefighters and pre-service firefighting students from Conestoga College.
“It makes me feel good going into this career, knowing that people like captain Bill Duncan had a main priority to see that future firefighters would have better protection in the job that we all love to do,” Conestoga student Salim Umar said after the service.
The honour guard stood at attention, lining Frederick Street, as Duncan’s casket exited the funeral home, and was placed onto a vintage pumper truck for the motorcade to the cemetery.
As it exited the parking lot, the motorcade passed under two ladder trucks that hoisted a massive Canadian flag whipping in the strong wind, before slowly passing the saluting firefighters.
Duncan was a diehard Toronto Maple Leafs fan, and flying prominently on the side of the pumper truck was a Leafs flag.
On Saturday night, his photo was displayed on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada when hockey personality Don Cherry paid tribute to Duncan, and extolled the virtues of firefighters.
“You can’t beat those guys, I tell you. It’s a tough one,” he said.
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