DIBOLL, Texas — A Deep East Texas firefighter passed away Friday morning following an accident happened while he was responding to a fire earlier this week.
Diboll Fire Department Chief Aaron Smith said on the department's Facebook page that fireman Joe Parish was hurt in an accident when he was responding to a fire on Wednesday. Smith asked for prayers at the time of that post.
Then, on Friday morning, Smith said in an updated post that Parish died around 7:30 a.m. and that he no doubt went to a better place.
"It’s sometime difficult to understand the things that happen and make sense of them in that moment. To say that Joe was a good man is such an understatement," Smith said. "He was so much more. To know him was to love him, but if you knew him at some point you probably wanted to throw something at him."
Smith added that those who knew Parish knew that they had a friend in him. He also said that Parish was always one call away when someone needed help as if his phone number was 911.
"It was said that Joe was finished with what God had for him to do here. I sure hope He is ready for Joe in Heaven. My friend had lots of scars and pain from his stay with us here, but this morning he was made perfect," Smith wrote in the post. "Joe your hard-headed presence will always be missed and the legend and legacy you left will be spoken of as long as there are ears to hear. Rest easy, brother we will take from here."