The Rocky Hill Fire Department is mourning a line of duty death within the department.
Officials said Rocky Hill Fire Captain James Lamarre had been battling work-related cancer for the last several months and has passed away.
Lamarre served the Rocky Hill Fire Department for 27 years in many roles, including as a career apparatus mechanic, according to officials.
Lamarre was a proud U.S. Army veteran and was very active in the Benino-Beck VFW Post 2138 in Rocky Hill as a chaplain, the fire department said.
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Rocky Hill Fire Chief Michael Garrahy said he and Lamarre went to school together from grade school through high school, they kept in touch over the years and found themselves back together at the Rocky Hill Fire Department.
“After high school, Jim went into the Army where he trained to become a diesel mechanic, so he took care of all of our apparatus,” Garrahy said.
Lamarre became a mechanic for the department and a friend and mentor to those who joined the team.
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“The first person a new recruit would see would be Jim Lamarre,” Garrahy said.
On Saturday, fellow firefighters rallied with a drive-by salute to show their love and support for Lamarre, who they said was a selfless and dedicated man.
The fire department hopes Lamarre will be honored with a line-of-duty death designation due to his cancer diagnosis.
“We’re really pushing for it because many firefighters have died over the years from cancer,” Mark Gentile, deputy chief of the Rocky Hill Fire Department, said.
Gentile said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study shows firefighters have a 10 percent greater risk of developing cancer and are at 14 percent greater risk of dying from cancer.
Final arrangements have not been released.
