COEUR D’ALENE (
The Spokesman-Review
) — For a second day, people from Idaho and across the U.S. lined the streets of Coeur d’Alene to mourn the loss of two firefighters shot and killed in an ambush late last month.
This time, they were there to honor 42-year-old Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood. Harwood, a former member of the National Guard who liked to play hockey, is survived by his two daughters and his wife.
He cheered his kids at sporting games, explored the outdoors with them, found “humor in all things” and accepted his kids for who they are, his obituary says.
Harwood’s funeral Friday
followed the Thursday funeral of 52-year-old John Morrison
, a battalion chief with Coeur d’Alene Fire Department.
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The two were responding to a wildfire on Canfield Mountain
on June 29 when a rogue gunman ambushed and began shooting
at the first responders. Coeur d’Alene Fire Department firefighter and engineer
Dave Tysdal 47, was the only person to be shot and survive the attack
. News of the tragedy reached across the nation – several firefighters from across Idaho, Oregon, California and even as far away as New York City all traveled the many miles to lay their brothers to rest this week.
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Like Thursday’s ceremony for Morrison, Harwood’s procession began at English Funeral Chapel and ended under an American flag held up by two ladder trucks from the fire departments of Spokane and Spokane Valley. The streets were mostly silent with the exception of the rumble of motorcycles leading the procession.
While some onlookers carried flags, others stood and cried.
Scott Morrison, a firefighter with Hall Mountain Fire in Boundary County, Idaho, stood by his fire vehicle on the side of Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive and thanked members of the public for coming to pay their respects. When he learned of the shootings and the firefighters across the nation coming to the small lake town, there wasn’t a question about whether Hall Mountain fire would go.
“I didn’t hesitate,” Morrison said. “We are all family, and a family looks after one another. It doesn’t matter where we are or what we are doing.”
Morrison, no relation to deceased fireman John Morrison, began fighting fires in 1991. He’s never seen something as tragic “to this extent,” he said outside the procession Friday.
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The reality of someone intentionally setting a fire for the purpose of killing firefighters ignited a worry shared by a lot of other firefighters in the region. It’s not something firefighters are trained to respond to or look out for, he said.
“You used to just have to be safe from fire,” Morrison said. “And now you have to be safe from other people.”
Morrison said some departments are looking to further protect with some sort of body armor their firefighters who respond to wildland fires. But Hall Mountain, a small, volunteer fire department in remote Idaho not funded by taxes, can’t afford all the bells and whistles bigger departments likely could, he said. It’s worrisome.
“You just don’t think it’s possible, and then it happened. No one would have thought of this,” he said. “It completely changed our mindset.”
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told The Spokesman-Review in a previous interview that the deaths of Morrison and Harwood made no sense – everyone was wondering why someone would kill a firefighter, someone completely defenseless.
Scott Morrison doesn’t know, either. Most of the guys he knows that go into firefighting do it with no motive other than to assist people in need, in emergencies or during the worst point in their lives.
“We are just there to help, our only job is to help. We aren’t here to judge you or crucify,” he said. “We are here to help, no matter your race, your religion or creed.”
