ROGERS, Ark. — Rogers Fire Captain Shawn Treat was laid to rest Tuesday, March 28, after suffering an off-duty medical emergency last week. Friends, family, and fellow first responders gathered at the Southside Church of Christ for his funeral.
Captain Treat passed away suddenly on March 20, exactly 23 years from the day he joined the fire department.
He served as a leader on the department's special operations team. Over Treat's 23 years of service, he worked at some of the busiest companies in the city serving as a mentor to many of the newest firefighters.
Treat's daughter Maggie said of her father that "Although his death will never fully leave our hearts and minds. We can all look back on the memories we made with him and take a greater meaning out of all of them as often as we can."
Rogers Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said Treat was trained to handle some of the most complex calls the fire department handles, but even on more basic calls, Treat gave his all.
"It's not every day that you need somebody who can swim to get you from a helicopter in a flooded environment, but when you need that type of talent, you need it right then," Jenkins said.
"Shawn epitomizes my belief that some of the best firefighters around are rabble-rousers and restless in the absence of chaos. Shawn was a magnet to disaster. And as I've described him before, a bit of a Swiss Army knife of a public servant," said Jenkins. "We're going to run a little quicker to calls. We're going to talk a little bit more on the radio, and we're gonna sound that queue a little longer than we ever needed to do so we make sure you can hear it from the other side, buddy. Thank you"
The procession route was:
- West on W. Walnut Street from N. 5th Street
- South on S. Dixieland Road to Southside Church of Christ
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