'Amazing human being': Hundreds honor Utah fire captain and family killed in flash flood
Hundreds of firefighters, relatives and community residents filled a college arena for a funeral service for a Utah fire captain, his wife and three sons who were killed in a flash flood while on a camping trip.
Provo Fire Capt. Spencer Long, his wife, Katrina, and their children -- Reid, 20, Thayne, 13, and Gage, 12 -- were honored on Wednesday at a service held in the event center at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Tim Inman, a firefighter from Southern California, said he packed up his family and drove to Utah to attend the funeral service.
Inman told ABC Salt Lake City station KTVX that Long, 44, was an "amazing human being."
"He touched a lot of lives," Inman said.
Inman recalled the guidance he received from Long when he started his career in Utah as a probationary firefighter.
"He was excellent at his job. Very skilled, but he also knew not to take things too seriously," Inman said. "That was a good kind of person to have around."
Family friend Megan Ostler said her son played on the same youth hockey team as Long's son, Gage.
"I just broke down," Ostler told KTVX about hearing the news of the deaths of Long and his family. "It was really, really hard to hear about those boys, to hear about that family because they truly were part of our hockey community."
Long, a 17-year-veteran of the Provo Fire and Rescue Department, and his family were killed on July 17 when they got trapped in a flash flood while on a hiking trip at the Sunglow Campground in Fishlake National Forest near the town of Bicknell, Utah, authorities said.
Following Wednesday's funeral service, firefighters and residents lined roadways and overpasses, many saluting as police vehicles escorted a procession of five white hearses.
In the family's hometown of Mona, Utah, streets were lined with American flags in honor of the family, and firefighters also displayed a giant flag suspended between two fire ladder trucks as the procession went by.
"The loss of Captain Spencer Long and his family — Katrina, Reid, Thayne, and Gage — is a devastating loss for Provo Fire & Rescue and for our entire fire family," Long's colleagues said in a statement posted on social media.
The statement added, "But Spencer was more than a captain and firefighter. He was a brother, friend, mentor, and an important part of our Provo Fire family. The loss of Spencer and his family has left a void that cannot be filled."
