Continued: Burnsville fire retiree thankful for job he loved

Burnsville Fire Department captain Lee LaTourelle does not hesitate to call Bruce Dunham his best friend. In a way, hundreds of Burnsville residents can make the same claim.

How better to describe someone who came to your aid during a crisis, who risked his own safety to secure yours, who literally saved your life?

Dunham, 54, did it all in his nearly 25 years as a Burnsville fireman and paramedic, and when his career ended with retirement at the end of May, he found it in his heart to say thanks.

"I was in love with the job,'' Dunham said.

He will be remembered among Burnsville public safety officials as one of the "Magnificent 7," the first group of paramedics hired by Burnsville in 1984. And as someone who lived up to the label.

"He's just a pillar of honesty,'' said LaTourelle, himself one of Burnsville's original paramedics. "And humble, with an integrity that is extremely high. Those of us who worked with him knew he would give any of us the shirt off his back. At the same time he expected everyone to do the job right, with the highest of expectations.''

Dunham's body of work also includes 20 years as a firefighter and paramedic in Bloomington as well as 20 years as an emergency responder for Allina. Seeing firsthand the horror, the tragedy, the suffering and the loss of so many, Dunham takes with him memories that can be cherished yet cursed at the same time.

In 1987, he answered the 911 call at Bloomington Jefferson High School to discover his 59-year-old mother, who worked at the school, had gone into cardiac arrest. Dunham's father, who had been called by school officials, was kneeling over his wife's body when Dunham arrived.

"She's gone,'' Glenn Dunham told his son. Dunham said he at least needed to try, and he was able to resuscitate his mom. She recovered and lived seven more years.

Dunham and his wife, Judy, were hosting family for Thanksgiving dinner in 1996 when Dunham's brother Larry suffered a heart attack. Dunham brought him back from the brink of death.

"You just do it,'' Dunham said of the ability to perform his duties under such traumatic circumstances. "You could say we got luck, but it isn't really luck. We have a great [emergency medical] system.''

Last year's Dec. 22 fire at the Burncliff Apartments in Burnsville, in which nearly 200 people lost their homes and possessions, proved a fateful event for Dunham. He and his "brothers" worked the fire all night. In the morning, after making another call, and in a moment of clear thinking, he came to a realization: "It's over.'' He cried unabashedly.

Dunham said he couldn't shake the image of so many people frantically trying to save anything they could, the desperation in their eyes. Three days before Christmas.

"I was holding on to it a little too tight,'' he said.

Within days, Dunham informed Fire Chief Steve Harkelrode that he would be submitting his two-week notice as soon as he found another job. Last Monday, Dunham began his new career as a medical records specialist for a health insurance company.

LaTourelle said he had hoped Dunham would stick around until September, at which time he and Dunham would have had 25 years together in Burnsville. "But I could tell he was ready to go,'' LaTourelle said.

On his last day of work, May 22, Dunham responded to a 911 call from a woman who had gone into labor. Dunham had answered four such calls in the past. Each time the child did not survive.

Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz happened to be on a "drive along" with the squad car that responded to the call. Dunham saw the mayor waving her arms outside the home when he pulled up.

After some anxious moments, Dunham delivered a baby girl. He received his first "Golden Stork Award" from the mayor at his retirement service.

"God meant it to be that way,'' LaTourelle said.

Dunham left Fire Station No. 1 at 911 140th St. for the last time at 8 a.m., on Saturday, May 23. Engine 1 and Medic 1 provided the escort to the western edge of town as Dunham drove home to Prior Lake.

Already he anxiously awaited the next chapter in his career.

LaTourelle met Dunham in 1977, when both were working as orderlies at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina. LaTourelle had to talk Dunham into joining him in becoming a firefighter in Bloomington. Dunham was hoping to find his way into being a radio disc jockey.

"I had this idea of becoming some kind of personality,'' Dunham said.

Instead, he became a person of distinction.

Dean Spiros • 952-882-9203