Boone County Fire Protection coping with loss two weeks after assistant chief’s death

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Today marks two weeks after Assistant Fire Chief Matt Tobben died during a water rescue in northern Columbia.

The Columbia Fire Department responded to a call around 4:30 a.m. July 8 at Range Line Street and Bear Creek and Boone County Fire was dispatched for mutual aid. Two people, Paige Pace, 29, and Charlie Resonno, 38, both of Columbia, were swept away by floodwaters and hanging onto trees. Boone County sent a boat with Tobben and Columbia firefighter Derek Abbott, 36, of Fulton, to rescue them. The boat lost power, became "swamped with water," and overturned. Pace, Resonno, and Abbott were rescued, but Tobben never resurfaced.

Gale Blomenkamp, support services bureau director for the Fire Protection District, said that overall morale has been good at the department.

"The week of the accident, or when the incident happened, there's a lot of work to do and a lot of focus going into the funeral and taking care of the family and continuing to run calls, etc.," Blomenkamp said. "And so there's a lot of work for a lot of people to do. And so that keeps people busy, which is a good thing when it comes to situations like this."

Blomenkamp addressed some of the speculation about the people Tobben was rescuing. Commenters on social media have repeatedly said the people who were rescued were homeless.

"They were hanging onto trees and we made the rescue. So we don't screen those calls or these homeless people are not homeless people. It doesn't matter to us," he said. "And if anybody out there thinks that that matters, they should check themselves pretty seriously and look themselves in the mirror and say, 'you know what? These guys would do it for me. Even though I may act like this, they'll still come out and save me too.'"

Boone County Fire Protection District offers mental health resources to all of its officers. The program uses Brave Counseling in Columbia.

"I personally use it myself, and they are very good people to talk to," Blomenkamp said. "They understand our world. They understand what we do. They can somewhat speak our language, and so that's that's very helpful."

Blomenkamp also said that Tobben had the credentials, connections and relationships perfect for his role as assistant fire chief. He said that, to find someone of that caliber is going to take some time, and that they can't replace someone like Tobben in a week or two. He said that the Fire Protection District will look for someone to fill that role, but that it will take time.