Spencer Chauvin and his family were planning to go to Disney World with his kids for the first time on September 1. Instead, his family will be burying the St. John the Baptist Parish fire chief that day.
Chauvin, 36, was standing with two firefighters by the interstate guardrail after responding to a crash early Sunday morning when a speeding Eldorado National bus approached the crash scene and clipped the fire truck, police said.
After hitting a car stopped behind the emergency vehicles, the bus veered and struck all three firefighters, hurling them into water about 35-feet below, police said. Chauvin died at a hospital. The others survived.
The driver was Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, police said. Police are still investigating the crash.
Starting off as a volunteer, Chauvin became a full-time firefighter in 2004 when the department itself went full time, said Donna Vicknair, a longtime employee with the St. John the Baptist Parish. Chauvin eventually became district fire chief.
“He wasn’t your typical chief who sat behind a desk and did paperwork,” said his 21-year-old brother, Lance Chauvin, who also works as a firefighter for the department.
Even after he was promoted, Spencer Chauvin never missed an opportunity to “get out there,” Lance Chauvin said. His brother “pulled lines, caught hydrants, and entered fires with his men every single chance he had.”
The two also worked with their brother Joe.
Firefighting is in the family’s blood, Lance Chauvin said. Their father was a volunteer fire chief, and even after retiring, he stayed on as a volunteer firefighter.
In a post on Facebook on Tuesday, the Chauvins’ sister Brittany Chauvin Borne asked people to leave posts about her brother so she can one day read them to his children, who are 7 and 4.
The words “wonderful,” “great” and “hero” were used repeatedly. One colleague, Karen Lay Morris, wrote: “He was a great man. He loved your Mommy, the two of you, and all of his family very much! He also loved firefighting. He was one of the absolute best. Our firefighting family had each others’ backs in a way that cannot be described, and I hope you know we will have you guys and Mommy’s backs, too! Family always! We love you all very much! “
Several agencies and officers saluted the late fire chief on Monday as his body was taken from New Orleans to St. James Parish, a post on the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office Facebook page showed.
Chauvin’s wife, Jennifer, posted a message saying he had “touched the lives of many people” and that she was “not sure how I am supposed to go through this thing called life without you by my side. I love you dearly and will miss you like crazy.”
Lance Chauvin said his brother was concerned about his area when the recent floods hit Louisiana. He said Spencer Chauvin made it a point to stay in touch with officials and track water levels each day.
In 2012, when Hurricane Isaac hit St. John the Baptist Parish, Spencer Chauvin made it a point to be out with the emergency crews from the first call for help until the streets dried up, Lance Chauvin said.
“He always did everything in his power at every call, and never left the scene until everything was taken care of. That’s pretty amazing in my eyes. To me, every single shift he worked, he did something amazing,” Lance Chauvin wrote.
A funeral will be held Thursday with a full fire service, in which all emergency vehicles are requested to escort Chauvin’s body to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edgard for a Mass and burial on the church grounds.