Lieutenant Francis “Fran Sr.” Orosz volunteered for the Carbondale Fire Department in its heyday, and had a reputation as one hell of an ambulance driver. After his passing, on a quiet day in late August 1996, he was honored with a procession down Main Street — the only one in modern memory — which was such big news that its coverage graced the front page of The Valley Journal’s Aug. 29 issue and a full page spread within.
Fran Sr. was born and raised in Pennsylvania, served in the Navy in the ‘50s and developed a knack for driving at a young age, having driven stock cars for a stint. He came West to raise a family of his own, settling in Wheat Ridge, Colorado before meeting his wife, Myna (Hughes) Orosz, and planting for good on Rose Lane outside Carbondale.
He started Roaring Fork Rentals, a modest shop at the start, initially based at the recently demolished strip mall just north of La Fontana Plaza before relocating to where Roaring Fork Tire is today. He was beginning to make a name for himself here, and the rental business would only bring more folks into his orbit.
His sons, Fran Jr. and Jeff Orosz, continue to run the business to this day, now based off Highway 82, east of Thunder River Market. Fran Sr.’s portrait hangs above the counter, and customers who file in are mostly on a first name basis — keeping intact the sense of community their dad inspired.
Carbondale Fire Chief Rob Goodwin and Jeff go back to high school days; and Marble Fire Chief Ron Leach, who was the chief of Carbondale Fire at the time, met Fran Sr. once he and Goodwin joined in ‘86 or ‘87. Fran Jr. had already signed on and Jeff came on board shortly after his dad. “His two sons … were core members of the fire department, too,” said Leach. It was a family calling, and even today, Jeff’s son, Brandon Deter, is the training chief for Carbondale Fire.
Carbondale was a small town then, and Leach recalled gathering nearly every morning at the Roaring Fork Rentals shop for coffee. He described Fran Sr. as someone who shaped Carbondale in his own way. “People were drawn to him,” added Goodwin.
This was around a time when the national 911 service hadn’t quite been implemented locally. Emergencies were reported to a seven-digit number, and dispatch would set up a conference call for available volunteers.
“Then it became time for everybody to drive to the fire department,” said Leach with a grin. That transpired as several civilian vehicles equipped with flashing red bubble lights whipping through town to heed the call.
“The worse the call, the faster they’d go,” said Leach.
“It was a rodeo,” added Goodwin.
Typically, whoever got their first got a choice seat. But Fran was always in the driver’s seat of the ambulance, “whether he was the first there or the third there,” said Leach.
He drove fast, however, despite his sense of urgency behind the wheel, his passengers felt secure. His temperament was “smooth” and “even keeled,” and he was just the man to get people the help they needed, when they needed it.
There are “untold numbers of people who owe their lives to that man,” Goodwin stated. “And he did it for nothing.” It’s difficult to say what compels someone to voluntarily put their life on the line for the sake of others, but the fire district boasted about 80 folks of such caliber then.
Even after Fran got sick with cancer, which came back with a vengeance the second time around, he went on calls for as long as he could. When he passed, the department came together to do something that hadn’t been done before to honor their friend’s legacy.
For Fran Sr.’s final ride through Carbondale, his former crew members hoisted his casket into the back of a Carbondale Fire-marked pickup truck, driven by Jeff, at his shop. After a memorial at the station came a procession down Main Street, replete with rigs and firefighters from other districts as well as Carbondale’s. And the town went quiet. Unexpecting passersby stopped in their tracks, some placing their hands over their hearts, paying respects to a fallen hero. Four law enforcement vehicles made way for the procession, followed by a kilted bagpiper — a volunteer for the Wheat Ridge Fire Department, which Fran Sr. had previously been part of — and “flanked by [Fran Sr.’s] brethren clad in snappy black and white,” read The Valley Journal’s coverage.
“It was quite a thing,” recalled Jeff.
At the west end of Main, the fire trucks and other departments broke off, and the Carbondale crew and family held a ceremony at Fran Sr.’s final resting place at Hillcrest Cemetery on White Hill.
During the memorial, as The Valley Journal reported, Myrna said, “My sweetheart has completed his earthly journey, and has gone to that big rental shop in the sky.”
The Valley Journal’s coverage of the procession as well as Fran Sr.’s obituary can be found in the 1996 archives at the Carbondale Library.
