Malcolm J. “Mick” Rovero II

Engine 611 was carrying the casket of former South Venice firefighter  Mick Rovero when it passed beneath an arch created by two ladder trucks at the entrance of Venice Memorial Gardens on Saturday, July 19, 1997. Engine 611 was the truck to which Mick was assigned when he served with the South Venice Volunteer Fire Department.

Malcolm J. “Mick” Rovero II, was 33 years old on July 15, 1997, when he died from breathing hot gasses while fighting a brush fire at Sweetwater Ranch. The ranch abuts U.S. 41 just north of Bonita Springs in Southwest Florida. The fire departments of Estero, San Carlos Park, and Bonita Springs fought the blaze in 90-plus degree heat. According to the reports, Rovero became separated from his truck and was reported missing at 3:54 p.m. At 4:29 p.m., Rovero’s body was observed by helicopter about 25 yards from the flames.

He was a member of the Estero Fire Department in Lee County, Florida, and a former member of the South Venice Volunteer Fire Department. He still lived with his family in South Venice at the time of his death. Firefighter Rovero was survived by his wife, Lori, and their two young children, Anthony and Nicholas.

The day of the funeral was a day of sadness and of ceremony: crossed ladders and draped flags. Uniformed fire service workers hugged each other for support. More than 200 mourners gathered at Lakeside Lutheran Church on U.S. 41 in South Venice that day to remember Mick. Outside the church, the processional row of 25 fire engines, ambulances, and other rescue vehicles was a testament to a man who loved fighting fires. At the front of the church was Rovero’s flag-draped casket, surrounded by sprays of red and white carnations and yellow lilies.

When the 10 a.m. service concluded, the mourners — including about 75 uniformed fire and rescue workers — watched as Rovero’s casket was lifted onto the former South Venice fire engine that had been draped with black bunting and carnations. A long procession of rescue apparatus with lights flashing followed Engine 611 to Venice Memorial Gardens. Fire departments from Sarasota to Collier counties were represented. Two ladder trucks, one from the City of Venice Fire Department, extended and crossed their ladders at the cemetery’s entrance, forming an arch with an American flag suspended in the middle.

A brief downpour didn’t impede the memorial service. The mourners stood in the rain as Rovero’s casket was taken off the engine. Deputy Chief Craig Bradley of the Estero Fire Department, former chief of the South Venice Fire Department, laughed as he recalled Rovero’s sense of humor and persistence. Once, firefighters at South Venice heard an “ungodly racket” out in the bay where the apparatus was parked at the fire station. They investigated and found Rovero fighting to tie a knot, grumbling and getting angry while the rest of the group laughed. “He couldn’t tie a knot if he had to,” Bradley said.

During a moment of silence, distant rumbling thunder and the murmur of emergency radios could be heard. At the gravesite, the communications center sounded the firefighter’s final alarm and read a brief final sign off that went out over the outside speaker of the engine to which he had been assigned when he worked in Sarasota County. Bradley presented the folded flag from Rovero’s casket to his widow.

Not a one of us standing alongside the grave that morning had dry eyes.