Several communities came together Wednesday to lay to rest a firefighter who suffered injuries during an ALS ice bucket challenge in Campbellsville.
Captain Tony Grider passed away Saturday after a nearly month-long stay in the hospital. The 41-year-old firefighter sustained electrical injuries while helping a school band with an ice bucket challenge.
His funeral drew hundreds to the small town of Columbia Wednesday, as family, community members, and fellow firefighters came to pay their respects. During the service, the Jamestown Fire Dept. took over operations. Jeff Landers, Jamestown's Assistant Chief, told WKYT-TV the outreach comes naturally in his business.
"We spend a lot of time together, not only the paid departments, but volunteers, we spend a lot of time with each other. each other's families, it becomes very close. When a tragedy likes this happens, it does not matter what department, paid or volunteer, or where you are from, it affects you," he said.
One firefighter friend said Grider was “put here to help people and that's what he did till the day he died.”
Services were held at Columbia Christian Church in Adair County.