MAPLETON – Mapleton Fire Rescue firefighters are mourning the unexpected loss of one of their own.
Scott Moore, a lifelong Mapleton resident who joined the department in 2000 and rose to the rank of captain, died at the age of 49 on April 10 following a medical event that caused a cardiac arrest.
Jeremy Moore, Scott’s younger brother, said he and his brother did everything together and couldn’t think of a single person who would say a bad thing about him.
“He just loved everybody, loved everything about life, he was such a great mentor and a great best friend,” said Jeremy, also a member of Mapleton’s fire department.
“We started at the fire department the same day, we had an interview on the same day. Everything, we hunted together, we fished together, we camped together, we built stuff together, destroyed stuff together, our life was just together.”
The Moore brothers grew up in Drayton and both eventually ended up not too far away in Moorefield.
Jeremy said his brother loved the small town lifestyle of peace, quiet and knowing everybody.
“He was watching out for everybody and it didn’t matter what help you needed, whether it was your furnace broken or anything he would be there in a flash,” Jeremy said. “He would always put your stuff or anybody else’s stuff before his own, that’s just how he lived.”
Past and present members of Mapleton’s fire department remembered him as an exemplary first responder.
“He was just a good community minded person … he was a good guy to work with, a good guy to have watching your back,” said Earl Campbell, a now retired volunteer firefighter with the department.
Tom Wood, deputy fire chief of the Moorefield fire station, said Scott was excellent at patient care and could calm someone who was worked up at a scene.
“He was that type of fellow, a bit of a jokester … you put him in charge of a sector, say a barn was on fire you put him in charge of a sector, well the job got done there was no second guessing it,” Wood said.
This was retired Mapelton fire chief Rick Richardson’s experience with Scott too, knowing him as a character but one who would be serious when work has to be done.
Richardson recalled a time when Scott saved the life of a man who had stopped breathing at a cottage near Conestogo Lake.
“He started doing CPR on him, he shocked him with the defibrillator and kind of got him breathing again and then EMS came and he stopped breathing again,” Richardson said. “EMS asked Scott to jump in the back of the ambulance, so he did CPR on his way to Listowel, he stopped and shocked him on the way there and got a pulse again.”
On another occasion, Jeremy recalled the brothers together saving a senior from a burning apartment.
“My brother went through the window and he went around and opened the door for me and sitting on the chair right there was this little old lady and her eyes just lit up,” Jeremy said. “My brother and I carried this old lady to her safety from a burning apartment. It was just such an awesome moment that I was able to celebrate with my brother.”
Beyond the fire department, Scott was a family man who married his childhood sweetheart Amanda and they had three children, Zachary, Joshua and Zoey.
“Family was number one to him, he’d do anything in the world for his wife and kids,” Wood said, adding the entire Moore family is very family-oriented.
The Mapleton fire department ended up getting a call in Moorefield which Wood said the department knew the address was Scott’s house. He was given CPR and taken to the Palmerston hospital before being transferred to Guelph General Hospital where he would die a few days later.
Wood said it was unbelievable for this to happen and noted Scott was joking in a firefighters’ group chat just an hour earlier.
“Keep your loved ones close and always hold them tight, Scott taught me that about life,” Jeremy said. “Don’t be afraid to hug somebody and to show them how much you care.”
A GoFundMe to support Scott’s family, started by his employer Aire One Heating and Cooling, has surpassed $16,500 since it was first posted with over 100 donations.
A visitation will be held at the Moorefield fire hall on Friday.
