An 18-year effort to get Flagler County to recognize former county firefighter John R. Keppler’s line-of-duty death in 2002 finally ended Monday evening with the county commission’s decision to rename the fire rescue training facility on Justice Lane after Keppler.
Until then, Keppler had been honored on two state memorials, including the the Florida Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Ocala, the Florida’s Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the grounds of the state Capitol, and the national firefighters’ memorial in Emmitsburg, Md., but Flagler recognize what had been–and remains–the county’s only line-of-duty death. But Flagler has never recognized it as such. On March 21, 2002, Keppler responded to an attempted suicide call in the Mondex, started feeling chest pains, asked his wife to drive him to the hospital, and died within sight of the emergency room door.