Firefighter, tow truck driver killed on the job, laid to rest in Halifax (PA)

[TowZone]

HALIFAX, Pa. (WHTM) — A Halifax firefighter was laid to rest Thursday afternoon.

 

Last Tuesday, 29-year-old Tyler Laudenslager was killed while he was working as a tow truck driver.

Laudenslager is being remembered for his love and devotion to his family and his multiple jobs helping others.

“Tyler just had an infectious laugh, infectious smile. Everybody gravitated toward him,” said Halifax Fire Chief Tim Neiter. “He was just one of those guys, even if it was a bad day and bad things were happening, he’d find the good in it.”

 

He was firefighter in Halifax, but died while operating a tow truck for H&S Towing.

 

“Anything you needed Tyler to do he dug into. You didn’t have to ask him because he was already doing it,” said Robert Hummelbaugh, owner of H&S Towing.

 

Hummelbaugh said towing may be a competitive industry, “Yet we have each other’s back and you can see that right here. These people are here for support because we lost one of ours.”

 

It’s another big reminder to slow down and move over when you see emergency vehicles.

 

“That’s our office there alongside the highways,” said Jackie Weyandt, HR manager for H&S Towing. “We go out there to help the public every day and we have families that are waiting for us as well, so we would like to go home to them.”

A fleet of tow trucks surrounded the service including the rig Laudenslager drove that night and his own pickup truck on top.

 

“We’ve got people that came from the Philadelphia area and people that didn’t even know him but knew of him,” Neiter said.

 

He enjoyed trains, camping, taking cruises and spending time with his wife Holly and 10-month-old daughter Riley.

He was even working on restoring a fire truck for his daughter, which carried his casket on his last ride to the cemetery.

 

“Whether it was being a tow operator, whether it was being a fireman, whether it was being a family member, whether it was being a friend, he always went above and beyond and he will be sorely missed,” Neiter said.

 

RESOURCE LINK with video