Hundreds honor firefighter Alex Bourque at funeral

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (KLFY) - Fellow firefighters stood at attention Monday as the family of Alex Bourque arrived at St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville.

Bourque, who lost his battle with cancer last week, was just 26 years old.  

His visitation services were held at Martin and Castille funeral home in Lafayette and were followed by a full funeral procession to the church.

Hundreds of people from local and state fire officials and members of the local police department attended the funeral.

As a courtesy, while local fire officials honored their fallen brother, the area was being manned by firefighters from across the state, including a team from the St. George Fire Department, who were setup at the Johnston Street fire station.  

"Coming to support them (LFD) just gives them a break.  They don't have to worry about running run calls.  We are here to serve their citizens in the interim," Lt. Cody Gateley said.

Gateley and his co-workers traveled from South Baton Rouge early Monday morning.  

"It's kind of an unspoken thing in fire service, especially in the south. You just learn to cover for each other when they need help."

Lafayette Fire Hazmat and Scott Fire Chief Chad Sonnier says the Bourque's are well known throughout the fire service community.

"His mother was an administrative assistant and his dad was a retired Lafayette Assistant Chief, and his brother is a firefighter," Sonnier said.  

"They are well known throughout the fire community, not only here locally in Acadiana but throughout the state.  They had a big, big following and when this happened more than many were willing to come in, step in and assist with filling in so his brothers in Lafayette and Broussard could give him a proper send off."

Bourque was 26 at his death.

He passed away peacefully away at his home on May 11, his obituary stated.