There were no more miracles for the family of Lt. Rich Montoya on Sunday or for Montoya’s extended family at the Denver Fire Department.
The 61-year-old veteran of countless house fires succumbed to injuries he received in the last one he fought.
On life support since he was pulled unconscious from a burning home at 4306 Thompson Court a week ago, Montoya was removed from a ventilator and died at 9:55 a.m. Sunday at Denver Health Medical Center.
“The mood today has been very somber,” said Capt. Sal Marini, Montoya’s supervisor at Fire Station No. 9, where the flag flew at half-staff Sunday, waving in a steady breeze.
“We were prepared for this, but there’s always that little bit of hope that you hold on to, and we were holding out for a miracle,” said Marini, who joined the force just a year ahead of Montoya 31 years ago.
Across town, fire officials announced Montoya’s death.
“Today, we stand here brokenhearted,” Capt. Phil Champagne, department spokesman, said in front of the Denver Firefighters Memorial, where the names of the city’s fallen firefighters are written in stone.
But, Champagne noted, because of the efforts of firefighters in the home where Montoya fell, a teenage girl was rescued.
Raquel Gutierrez, 16, continued her recovery from first- and second-degree burns at University Hospital, where her condition was upgraded from serious to fair Sunday.
Fire Chief Larry Trujillo said investigators are still trying to determine what happened. Maybe Montoya backed into the wrong room, or maybe he heard something and went to investigate, he speculated. Maybe the answer will never be known, Trujillo added.
Champagne said a firefighter knows “you can do everything right and things can still go wrong.”
Trujillo said he has spent a lot of time with the Montoya family in the last week.
“There is a lot of love there,” he said.
Montoya’s family members said they were glad it was he who died as a result of the fire, instead of someone else, Trujillo said.
“That’s the way Rich would have wanted it. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if it had been somebody else on his team who died,” Trujillo said family members told him.
The family asked him to thank the Fire Department, the medical staff at the hospital “for their caring and professionalism,” and the community for its support, thoughts and prayers, Trujillo said.
While Trujillo eulogized Montoya, back at Station No. 9 the firefighters on duty went about their business, even though their minds were on Montoya and his family.
The walls in the lobby there include a dozen plaques commending bravery and service. Montoya’s name is on two of them.
He expected everyone to give their all every time, Marini said.
“He would drive other people crazy,” Marini said, a smile breaking across his face. “But he would drive himself crazy, too.”
Montoya was a tiger on the softball field as well, and though he was a poor golfer, he was fiercely competitive.
Montoya was only a couple of months from retirement and had sketched out his plans.
“He was going to spend a lot of time with his grandchildren,” Marini said. “And he said he wanted to play a lot of golf.”
A few blocks away, at the burned-out house on Thompson Court, roses are starting to bloom and Christmas lights are still strung along the porch, behind the yellow police tape. A blue tarp shrouds the roof, where flames licked through.
“I wish they would tear it down tomorrow,” said neighbor Wanda Perez. “It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. Every time I look over there, I think of that little girl and how she is suffering. That fireman died a brave death trying to help other people.”
The Hearts of Fire organization, made up of the families of Denver firefighters, has been at the Montoya family’s side since the fire. The organization formed in 2000 after firefighter Robert Crump died trying to rescue a woman in rising floodwaters in northeast Denver.
“We all have a tendency to forget about how dangerous this job is, to put it in the back of our minds that the reality is that they may not come home every time they go out,” said Linda Arellano, president of Hearts of Fire and a firefighter’s wife for 32 years. “This is a really harsh reminder.”
Services for Montoya are pending.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
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