After battle with cancer & COVID-19, Zoneton fire Chief Robert Orkies dies Share Updated: 11:17 PM EST Dec 11, 2020 Share Updated: 11:17 PM EST Dec 11, 2020
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Show Transcript COVID-19. HERE S HOW HE S BEING REMEMBERED. HOLDING HANDS AND COMFORTING ONE ANOTHER IN PRAYER THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE OUTSIDE LAURENS HOSPITAL IN ST. MATTHEWS ON FRIDAY AS LOVED ONES AND THOSE IN THE ZONETON FIRE DEPARTMENT LEARNED THAT THE CHIEF DIED AFTER BATTLING CANCER AND COVID-19. THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT S DARKEST HOURS. WE VE NEVER LOST A MEMBER BEFORE. THE DEPARTMENT SAYS HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER BACK IN SEPTEMBER, BUT DURING HIS CHEMO TREATMENT HE TESTED POSITIVE FOR THE CORONAVIRUS. HE WAS HOOKED UP TO A VENTILATOR FOR MOR THAN A MONTH. MAYBE HE S AROUND THE CORNER BUT THEN THE NEXT DAY THE NUMBERS WOULD GO DOWN REAL BAD. DESPITE HOURS AFTER HIS DEATH A PROCESSION SOON FOLLOWED AFTER HIS BODY WAS TRANSPORTED TO T
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) Zoneton Fire Chief Rob Orkies passed away Friday after a dual battle with cancer and COVID-19. Chief Orkies succumbed to his fight with cancer and COVID-19 on December 11, 2020, a spokesman for the fire department said, in a statement. Chief Orkies was in the fire service for more than 36 years and joined the Zoneton Fire District in 1994 after serving with the Okolona Fire Department. He was respected by all who knew him. All of us are deeply saddened by his death. Our condolences and prayers go out to his family and friends. This is a difficult time for the entire Fire Department, and we will need to come together to get through it. All of us know when we choose firefighting as a path that this type of occurrence is possible. But that does not make it any less tragic or any less difficult to bear once it actually happens.