Late Costa Mesa firefighter honored on Colorado memorial
A Vietnam veteran and former captain of the Costa Mesa Fire Department who died of job-related cancer will be memorialized Saturday in Colorado for his more than three decades of service, the department said.
Capt. Ron McMinimy will be remembered with other new honorees at the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Colorado Springs during a ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
The memorial was created in 1918 by the International Association of Fire Fighters to honor those who died in the line of duty, said Rob Gagne, president of the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn.
When McMinimy’s name was etched into the memorial’s granite columns, it joined the names of more than 7,400 other men and women who died from injuries and illnesses suffered while on the job.
McMinimy is the second Costa Mesa firefighter honored on the memorial, Gagne said. John Kirkpatrick was added in 1975.
McMinimy joined the Costa Mesa department on May 14, 1968, and was assigned to Station 4 on the “White Knuckler,” a white fire engine, McMinimy’s son Ryan wrote in an article that will be printed in the program for the memorial service.
Nine years later, McMinimy was promoted to captain, Ryan wrote.
Gagne plans to be at the ceremony Saturday to present Ryan McMinimy with an American flag in honor of his father.
“When I hand that flag to Ryan, I want to show him how great a man his dad was,” Gagne said.
After 36 years of service, McMinimy, referred to as “Mac” by friends and family, retired in 2004 because of health issues. He died in 2012 from prostate cancer.
McMinimy’s illness probably was the result of his firefighting, Gagne said. He served during a 1987 fire at the Hixson Metal plant in Newport Beach, considered one of the worst hazardous-materials fires in the region’s history. Firefighters were exposed to toxic fumes, including traces of cyanide, the Los Angeles Times reported.
At least two other firefighters and a policeman who responded to the fire died of cancer, The Times reported.
“There are many words that can be used to describe my dad: opinionated, rebellious and gruff were heard often,” Ryan McMinimy wrote in his article. “The saying ‘It’s my way or the highway’ was a favorite saying of his.
“But these words were also followed largely with caring and helping out fellow workers, friends, strangers, for whatever they needed. The fire department was his life. He would be humbled to be honored at this memorial. I can remember hearing my dad say, ‘I’m only doing my job.’”
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