The last day of Brandon Norbury’s life began when he clocked in at 7 a.m. for a 24-hour shift at Station 31.
Norbury, a Gresham firefighter for 15 years, had reported for a new assignment that morning, Feb. 3. Station 31, which is near the Portland-Gresham border and responds to calls in both cities, is one of the busiest in the metro area, and Norbury felt like he was coming home. He had worked at the station a decade earlier.
He was ready to get to work. With his background, he easily could have bragged – he was a former Navy SEAL who’d survived multiple overseas missions, then spent eight years as a Gresham police officer. But Norbury’s motto was simple: Do, don’t talk.
He turned to firefighting because he’d had enough of confrontations, he told friends. Norbury, who was single and had a daughter, wanted a job that only involved helping others.