Death of Vince Porter

City police today identified Vincent Marvin Porter, 46, as the member of the Fredericton fire department killed Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Porter died after a fire truck overturned on the Vanier Highway while answering a call to Fredericton Housing and Construction Co. Ltd. He died in Victoria Public Hospital last night.

Injured in the accident was the driver of the pumper Leo Murray, 331 Victoria St., who suffered a fractured leg and hip injury in the accident. The call, answered by Mr. Porter, who was acting captain on the afternoon shift at Whittingham Hall fire station, was the third of the afternoon.

At 1:19 p.m., the pumper had answered a call to look after an oil spill that stretched from Canterbury Drive, Forest Hill, nearly across the Princess Margaret Bridge. The spill apparently was caused by an open valve on & gasoline truck. It was found impossible to wash down the oil spill and city police arranged for a sand truck.

At 2:43 p.m. Mr. Porter and Mr. Murray answered a call to 51 Norfolk Cres. where there was a smell of was. The source . .of the odor could not be found.

While returning to the station the two-man crew recieved a radio call that there was a smell of smoke at the Fredericton Housing warehouse off the Vanier Highway. Since it was in the area, the pumper answered this call and it is thought the truck skidded and overturned as it started to turn into the driveway of the Fredericton Housing lot.

At the time of call from Fredericton Housing, the York Street fire station dispatched a tanker to the scene. The tanker arrived shortly after the accident. There was no fire.

Mr. Porter was a 12-year veteran with the fire depart-ment, having joined on April 16, 1962. He had been a call fireman before joining as a permanent member. He was active in the Canadian Association for Retarded Children program. He attended the Salvation Army Citadel. He was a member of the Capital Yacht Club, Independent Order of Foresters and a member of the Local 1053, Fredericton Fire Fighters Association.

He is survived by his wife, Diane; three daughters, Mrs. Brian McHatten (Linda), Woodstock; Judith Ann and Janice Christine, both at home; his parents Mr. and Mrs. Marvel Porter, Moncton; three sisters, Mrs. Donald Stewart (Mae), Moncton, Mrs. Percy Peterson, (Eva), Fredericton and Mrs. Florence Arbeau, Penniac; one brother, Capt. Leo Porter, Guelph, Ont and several nieces ibid nephews.

The body is resting at Bishop's Funeral Home. Funeral service will be held in the Salvation Army Citadel, Westmorland Street, at 2 p.m. Monday with Captain Albert Verhey officiating. A son Lawrence Porter predeceased him on June 28 this year.

The following appeared in the Daily Gleaner Newspaper in Roger Alain's column

Vince Porter
By Roger Alain

I'd like to take this opportunity to express my condolences to the family of fireman Vince Porter, killed Thursday while responding to a call on the Vanier Highway. As well, my sympathies also go out to officials and other firemen with the Fredericton Fire Department. I know they'll miss Vince.

The death of any professional while engaged in the execution of his duties is always hard to take. In Vince's case, the situation is even more difficult, because of the circumstances surrounding it.

Vince was assigned to the Whittingham Hall fire station on a regular basis. On the day he died, he was acting captain, because the captain in charge of the station was out sick. It was a normal enough day - except that it left one man dead and another man in hospital.

The pumper Vince commanded had responded to a call to wash away an oil spill in Forest Hill, extending most of the way across the Princess Margaret Bridge. The truck returned to the Whittingham Hall station, but was again summoned to Forest Hill because of a gas smell in a residence. The source couldn't be located, and the truck was again returning to its home station. On the way, a call came over the radio that smoke had been smelled in the Fredericton Housing and Construction Co. Ltd. warehouse on Vanier Highway.

Rain had been falling most of the morning, and a mist was falling at the time. The pavement was thoroughly wet. The possibility has been expressed that oil on the fire department's pumper's tires contributed to it rolling over as it approached the warehouse driveway.

Fire Chief Harold Doherty, remembering the disastrous proportions of a fire last year, which demolished another warehouse on the Vanier Highway, was responding to the call in his official car. He saw the outcome of the accident, and called for all available resources.

He obtained assistance from some bystanders and moved the driver away from the ditch in which the truck had come to rest. Then, he tried to comfort Vince and placed the fireman's arm over his eyes, to protect him from objects, which might have fallen from the truck as he lie pinned.

A smell of gas, probably from the truck, permeated the air, and Chief Doherty said he was afraid a flash fire might result. "It's the most hopeless feeling you can get," he said later about the incident.

The chief said he had "nothing but praise" for the police department personnel who responded to the call. It was the police van that transported Vince to hospital, with district fire chief Herb Hawkins operating the resuscitator in a vain attempt to keep him alive. He died a few hours later.