LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Zoneton Fire Chief Rob Orkies passed away Friday after a dual battle with cancer and COVID-19.
"Chief Orkies succumbed to his fight with cancer and COVID-19 on December 11, 2020," a spokesman for the fire department said, in a statement. "Chief Orkies was in the fire service for more than 36 years and joined the Zoneton Fire District in 1994 after serving with the Okolona Fire Department. He was respected by all who knew him. All of us are deeply saddened by his death. Our condolences and prayers go out to his family and friends.
"This is a difficult time for the entire Fire Department, and we will need to come together to get through it. All of us know when we choose firefighting as a path that this type of occurrence is possible. But that does not make it any less tragic or any less difficult to bear once it actually happens."
Orkies spent his life doing what he loved. He became the chief of the department in 2003 and never left.
Zoneton Fire Chief Rob Orkies speaks with WDRB News during an interview in October 2020.Â
"I want to serve the community I live in," he told WDRB News in an interview back in October. "I want to serve the community my kids play in and my wife and my grandkids are in, and that's what has kept me here. I've never looked anywhere else."
According to Zoneton Fire Marshal Kevin Moulton, Orkies was diagnosed with COVID-19 a week into his chemotherapy. The chief was hospitalized on Nov. 9 and placed on a ventilator. In late September, Orkies was diagnosed with a type of skin cancer. According to Moulton, Orkies had his cancer removed in October but had to be rushed to the hospital for blood clots in his lungs, which were removed.
Orkies started cancer radiation and chemotherapy in early November, which was set to last through December. However, after being diagnosed with COVID-19, recovering from the virus was the primary focus. Moulton said at the time that Orkies was taking "baby steps" but playing the "waiting game."
During that interview in October, Orkies was days away from beginning cancer treatments. He wanted to spread awareness about the increase in firefighters diagnosed with cancer. He spoke of the safety steps he was taking to protect his firefighters and the example he was trying to set.Â
A procession for fallen Zoneton Fire Chief Rob Orkies on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020.Â
"I hope more than anything — as ironic as this may sound — as the fire chief, as the leader, that maybe what's happening to me can have the effect on our membership, particularly, and they'll see that maybe ought to do a little more than what we're doing to take care of our own person. So that's really what I want out of this."
Orkies left behind a wife, two children and grandchildren and family that he loved deeply. And it showed.
"They're strong because they don't show any emotion in front of me," he said. "I'm the one that's emotional, but both my wife and my son and daughter and their husband and wife and my immediate family — they're all strong. Probably a lot stronger than I am right now."
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