On what would have been his 41st birthday, Ralston Fire Chief Kyle Ienn was remembered Saturday as a dedicated community servant during funeral services at Ralston High School.
Ienn was found dead at 69th and Pine Streets in Omaha on Tuesday of an apparent suicide.
More than 1,200 people, including firefighters and emergency medical personnel from some two dozen fire departments across Nebraska and from as far away as Chicago and Milwaukee, braved a winter storm on Saturday to pay their last respects.
In eulogizing Ienn, Ralston Mayor Don Groesser said: “We will always remember the modest, decent, natural way he was about his service, and the community will always be grateful for his service.”
A 22-year veteran of the Ralston Volunteer Fire Department, Ienn served the last 12 years as RVFD chief.
He was active in several national and international organizations related to the fire service, including the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Council on Fireworks Safety and the National Honor Guard Commanders Association.
Ienn was instrumental in securing grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to grow the Ralston department to 56 members in 2011 – the largest the department had ever been.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s service, and with the snow falling more intensely, Ralston and La Vista firefighters lined the entrance to Ralston High School as Ienn’s purple-draped casket was loaded onto one of the Ralston department’s antique fire engines.
Ladder trucks from the Papillion and La Vista Fire Departments extended their ladders in a salute as a steady stream of fire engines from area departments created a long red line en route to the Calvary Cemetery for burial.
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