Three Waco firefighters from the Waco Honor Guard Pipes and Drums will be playing at the funeral of a San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem, who died in the line of duty after a fire swept through a shopping mall last Thursday.
Jeremy Downs, Wade Kaminski and Dean Cummings from the Waco Pipes and Drums corps will be representing the City of Waco at the funeral. They will be playing the drums during the procession to the church.
"We all come to work knowing that we have a dangerous job. We all pray we go home at the end of the shift and unfortunately somebody didn't get to go home to their family and it's hard on the firefighting community to lose a brother like that,” Cummings said.
Cummings has played at other events before as part of the group but he has never played at a funeral before.
“It hits very close to home, so I will be thinking about my family and what my family would do and if it was them, if the shoe was on the other foot and it was me or if it was one of my brothers in Waco,” Cummings said.
Waco Honor Guard Commander Scotty Watts said when asked whether the firefighters could participate, he didn’t hesitate to send them.
“It's an honor in itself to represent sacrifice. We do everything we can to help the family and just pay our respects because that man or woman died in the line of duty and that's a sacrifice,” Watts said.
The group will be leaving Waco on Friday morning.
The Waco Pipes and Drums Corps has already participated in at least four out-of-town funerals this year according to Watts.
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