BERKELEY – Consistently risking his life for others, a young firefighter is being mourned after dying suddenly from a medical condition.
Brian Joseph Letrent, of Bayville, was just 34 when he died on June 21.
Bayville Fire Chief John McKay said he suffered a cardiac episode on his way home from work. He was able to pull over to the side of the Garden State Parkway and call police but he later succumbed.
“He was a fireman with us for the last six years,” he said. “He was one of our top responders.”
That means that he was one of the firefighters who were on the most calls. It’s clear he would have had a long and fruitful career with the fire company.
He had been awarded the Medal of Gallantry for finding someone who was lost in a nearby creek, McKay said. This medal is given to those who put themselves at great personal risk to rescue someone from potential death.
He was a 2007 graduate of Central Regional High School in Bayville. His services will be there, as the school will sometimes host visiting hours that are expecting large numbers of people. The visiting hours will be Thursday, June 29, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. The school is located at 509 Forest Hills Parkway in Bayville. Mastapeter Memorial Home is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be sent to Bayville Fire Company Station #17, 645 Atlantic City Blvd, Bayville, NJ 08721.
He had enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving Boot Camp while still in high school. He was deployed to Iraq for 6 months, then was Honorably Discharged from Fort Drum in New York. He worked as a mechanic with the Berkeley Township Sewage Authority and was recently promoted.
An active outdoorsman, he loved riding quads, camping, and kayaking.
“Brian was one of those special individuals that dedicated himself to saving lives and property as a proud firefighter with Bayville Fire Department Station #17. He started his fireman’s career with Pinewald Fire department, then with Ocean Gate Fire Department and was a trained officer with Ocean County Hazmat and has served there for the past seven years,” according to his obituary.
He is survived by his mother and stepfather Kathleen and Roy Whitley, his father and stepmother Richard and Donna Letrent, his brother Richard Letrent and his companion Yasmin Moreno, and his aunt and uncle Cherrie and Tim Kennedy and his cousins, Jennifer Freit, Eddie Beach, Kristen Kenny and Amanda Kennedy.
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