Firefighters gather over memories of ‘quiet’ former captain
Frank M. Krainbucher, of Butler, had been described by his friends and family as a “low-key guy,” even after his death Dec. 13, which was followed by an equally low-key funeral and service, according to his son, Scott Krainbucher.
But on Wednesday, Dec. 20, about a dozen firefighters who Frank Krainbucher worked with over his 30-plus years at the Butler Bureau of Fire gathered at the fire station to reminisce and share memories of their longtime colleague.
Born Sept. 28, 1940, in Butler, Frank Krainbucher was 83 when he died.
Scott Krainbucher, who met the group for the afternoon, said it was the first time he had heard many of the stories the firefighters shared about his dad.
“I always thought of him as my hero, I wanted to be like him,” Scott Krainbucher said. “As a kid, it’s an awing experience, seeing the trucks and the camaraderie with the guys.”
Frank Krainbucher was a 1959 graduate of Butler High School and later joined the U.S. Navy. He was the captain of the Butler City Fire Department, and retired in 2003 after more than 30 years of service to the Butler community.
Firefighters who worked with Frank shared memories of him Wednesday, including his younger brother, David Krainbucher, who joined the department around the same time as Frank.
While the two didn’t often work on the same shift, David said they were a good team when they were at a fire scene together.
“Frank would be on one side of the building, I’d take the other side,” David Krainbucher said.
Tom Fair, a captain of the Butler Bureau of Fire, was the only firefighter present Wednesday who was still working at the department. He said he only worked with Frank for a few years, but his attitude and demeanor as a captain made an early impression on him.
“Frank was just quiet, he was just a quiet leader,” Fair said. “He made the calls, he just wasn’t a screamer or a hollerer. He trusted you knew your job.”
Bob Stewart was another retired firefighter who came to the station Wednesday to reminisce about Frank. Stewart said he often ended up on the same shifts as Frank over the years, and Frank continued to be a good leader throughout their time together.
“The chiefs would always give us training assignments and it was the captain’s job to make sure that was all done. Frank always did that, we always had our school, it didn’t matter what it was,” Stewart said. “That was Frank, he was extremely serious and an outstanding firefighter.”
Retired firefighter Gary Archer said firefighting crews were as close as family when he was at the bureau, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. He said the firefighters would all get together after work at a bar, or at one of their homes to unwind after a long shift.
Scott Krainbucher said his dad was as reserved at home as he was working at the Bureau of Fire. What time Frank didn’t spend working at the fire stations or at home with his children, Scott and Deborah, he spent fishing, hunting or with people from the fire station.
“He liked hunting and fishing, fishing more than hunting but he did both,” Scott said.
Although Frank was one of the quietest in the room, the firefighters Wednesday said he was the person they were most proud to make laugh.
“When he took a handkerchief out and wiped his eye or wiped his glasses, you knew you told him a good joke,” said retired firefighter Bill Edmiston.
Kevin McAfee, a retired firefighter, said he would watch television with Frank on late nights at the station, which was another example of the few things that made Frank laugh.
“We would be watching the Honeymooners,” McAfee said. “Frank didn’t really show a lot of emotion or anything. When we were watching the Honeymooners, he would laugh hard. He would laugh so hard he was crying.
“I remember just looking at him and being like, ‘Really?’”
Stewart recalled a moment where Frank demonstrated leadership in a dangerous situation, which came during a tire fire on Route 8. Stewart said traveling over a bridge from the city to Route 8 at five miles per hour on a fire truck is a memory of Frank he will never forget.
“We were working the night of the Butler tire fire on Route 8 South, and Frank was the captain and I was driving,” Stewart said. “We started going across the South Main Street viaduct … The wind from all those thousands of tires burning was going right across the viaduct, you couldn’t see the road anymore.
“The only way Frank and I knew we were going, we kept hitting the curb of the bridge. Frank would say, ‘We hit it, we hit it, we hit it.’”
