Forest fire wardens and patrolmen from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management line up to pay their respects to their comrade, Wayne W. Mickle, at Dwyer Funeral Home in Pittsfield yesterday. Mickle, 48, was found dead in his tent of a suspected heart attack on Friday while deployed in Montana, where he was among 200 firefighters battling the Boles Meadow fire in Missoula.
Forest Fire Warden Lawrence Ray stands next to Mickle's truck after the calling hours. Ray was Mickle's supervisor at DEM. The funeral will be today at 11 at the funeral home. Photos by Ben Garver / Berkshire Eagle Staff
Mickle was found dead in his tent at a fire camp outside Missoula on Friday. He was one of about 200 firefighters battling the Boles Meadow fire.
He was a forest fire patrolman with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, assigned to Pittsfield State Forest. He had been with the department for 27 years and had been sent to forest fires across the country, said seasonal supervisor Chris Hajjar, who added that the death came as a shock.
"It was really sudden. He was in good shape. He told us he'd see us all in two weeks," before he left last Tuesday, Haj-jar said. "He was a real nice guy, someone you could trust."
Mickle's wife, Leslie, said her husband died doing what he loved -- fighting forest fires.
"He loved this job, and he worked real hard to make it to Montana," she said, adding that her husband kept in shape by walking uphill each day wearing a 45-pound backpack.
She said he would be cremated after his funeral tomorrow and that his ashes would be sprinkled on Mount Greylock -- Massachusetts' highest mountain -- where they were married. "He loved to be in the woods, and I know that's where he'd like to be," she said.
Mickle was among a group of firefighters who were honored at a ceremony in Boston three years ago for fighting the large wildfires in several western states that year.
"It was a good feeling. We had a great time when we were out West," Mickle said at the time of his seven weeks with the wildfire crew. "It felt good to support all the other people in all the other states while we were out there."
Mickle leaves his wife, three sons, a daughter, two brothers, a sister and three grandchildren.
PITTSFIELD -- Firefighter Wayne W. Mickle, a city resident, was fondly remembered as a family man, colleague and friend at a memorial service held at Dwyer Funeral Home on North Street yesterday morning. More than 100 people, including an estimated 60 members of several state forest service agencies, stood silently inside the funeral home as the 48-year-old Mickle was eulogized in readings from Scripture, a poem and words offered by a friend and a relative.
"He was obviously a very active part of the community," said Sharon Brower of Pittsfield, a family friend, who spoke at the ceremony. "This turnout, to me, shows their respect to the life he led."
Representatives of forest service agencies from New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island attended yesterday's memorial service, along with members of the U.S. Forest Service, the Pittsfield Fire Department, the Massachusetts Fire Chiefs Association and the state police, among others.
Several forest service employees placed black ribbons across the badges on their chests. They marched silently into the funeral home accompanied by the mournful sound of bagpipes.
Honored 3 years ago
Three years ago, Mickle was among a group of firemen honored at the Statehouse by state and federal officials for their work fighting severe forest fires in several Western states.
Mickle, a forest fire patrolman with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation for 27 years, died of a heart attack Friday in Montana. He had gone to Montana with 19 other state firefighters as part of a national forest firefighting program.
Julena Campbell, a fire information officer with the Northern Rockies Incident Information Center in Missoula, Mont., told the Montana Standard newspaper that Mickle died of natural causes, not from the stress and strain of firefighting or the smoky conditions.
Missoula County Sheriff Mike McKeekin told the Standard that Mickle's body was found inside his tent by another firefighter early Friday morning at the Boies Meadow Fire Camp, outside the town of Potomac, Mont.
According to the Standard, the 19 other members of the Massachusetts Wildfire Crew who had traveled to Montana were pulled out of the encampment following Mickle's death and sent back to Massachusetts with his body.
"You go out as one; you return as one," Robert Hanecak, district fire warden for Hampshire County, said following yesterday's ceremony. "They had to bring him back."
"We all thought we should be here with Wayne," added Scott Turner of Palmer, who was in Montana with Mickle. "I only worked with him on a few fires, but he was one of the most outstanding guys I ever met."
During the memorial service, Brower and Mickle's sister-in-law, Linda Pruyne of Lanesboro, frequently referred to Mickle by his nickname "Mick" and spoke of his devotion to both fighting fires and his family.
"Mick was special, both to his family and the community," Brower said. "We are fortunate that men like Wayne make protecting the environment their life's work.
"His family and his work were his life," she added.
Brower said Mickle's family intended to contribute to a firefighters' monument in his name, "because fighting wildfires was so important to him."
Brower also mentioned how Mickle enjoyed dressing up like Smokey Bear at various gatherings. He appeared as Smokey Bear in last month's Fourth of July parade in Pittsfield.
"He had a heart of gold," Brower said.
Pruyne read from a poem in which life was characterized as "a dash between the years," from when you are born to when you die. She said when a life is "hashed," what is remembered most is "how you spent that dash."
"God knows we're proud," she said.
Mickle left his wife Leslie, three sons, a daughter, two brothers, a sister and three grandchildren.
His wife told The Associated Press last week that Mickle's body would be cremated and that his ashes would be sprinkled on Mount Greylock, where the couple were married Oct. 17, 1981.
