Nine-year-old twins and a red-headed preschooler rode atop a fire engine to the funeral of their father, who died in Layton fighting a house fire.
They watched his burial last week, which marked a death that was the first of its kind in Utah in more than 47 years.Although Utah has had a tragic history of firefighters who have died in the line of duty, what happened to Kendall O. Bryant on March 31 is relatively rare.
Records compiled by the State Fire Marshal's Office indicate Bryant is the first Utah firefighter to die in a structure fire since Aug. 12, 1952.
It was on that day that Bountiful city firefighter Marlon Burningham died in a burning building.
In the years before then, firefighters from across the state met death in an untimely and tragic fashion.
Longtime Utah residents may recall the 1943 deaths of three Salt Lake City firefighters who perished in the burning Victory Theater when a balcony collapsed on them.
Less than a month later, Salt Lake Fire Lt. Paul Hamilton died in the spectacular collapse of a firetruck's 100-foot extension ladder.
Hamilton was among firefighters battling a ninth floor blaze at a hotel when the extension ladder began to sway before it buckled and collapsed.
Hamilton and John Boshard were on top of the ladder when it fell. Hamilton was pitched out into the street on top of a car.
Two other firefighters who were below the ladder were injured as well. Before those devastating deaths, Salt Lake City firefighters endured a wide variety of tragedies, including a 1920 death from a collision between a firetruck and a street car. The firefighter died a day later from his injuries.
Three years later, a Salt Lake firefighter died after he fell off a ladder fighting a fire at 300 South and Main.
Among Utah firefighter deaths, at least two men were killed in a practice long glorifying the image of the firefighter but banned now because of its dangerous nature.
A Paragonah firefighter died when he fell from the back of the firetruck on which he was riding.
A Salt Lake County firefighter also died in that manner after the truck was struck broadside by another vehicle and he was thrown into the roadway.
With the advent of better equipment, more training and policies that place greater emphasis on safety, firefighter deaths in Utah occur on a more infrequent basis.
Utah went 10 years between the Paragonah fireman's death until two members of the Wasatch County Fire Department lost their lives in a wildland blaze in 1990. Another firefighter died in a wildfire in 1996, the last fire-related firefighter death prior to last month's Layton tragedy.
The shock of Bryant's death may have started to ebb a bit, but his colleagues are still plagued by questions.
"I think pretty much the whole department, everybody, they wonder why," said Ogden Fire Capt. Garn Tolsma. "You wonder what he may have done wrong and then you have to remind yourself that you can't second-guess them. Maybe they just did normal things they did a hundred times and it just turned out bad."
Tolsma is among dozens of firefighters who worked with Bryant, a full-time Ogden firefighter who also worked part-time for Layton.
Bryant's death in the bedroom of a Layton home just 3 feet from a window struck both departments particularly hard.
For Layton, formed in 1928, it is the city's only firefighter death.
In Ogden, as far as Tolsma and the others can remember, Bryant's death is the first on-duty death for that department as well.
"People wonder how it could happen when he was standing 3 feet from a window, but when you can only see 6 inches in front of you, 3 feet is a long way away," Tolsma said. "It might as well be a mile."
Tolsma said Bryant's death has been a jarring wake-up call for the men and women who choose firefighting as a profession.
"Those of us who have been around here have been in those situations over and over again, and nothing ever happens. You kind of get complacent. It's like everything else. It almost becomes routine, but a person has to remind himself that what we do is not routine."