GROVE CITY, Pa. -- After many years as a firefighter, Joseph Holmes thought he had steeled himself for the dangers of his job, until last Friday when he saw his 21-year-old son, Brad -- also a firefighter -- lying in an ambulance with severe burns over almost his entire body.

"Nothing prepares you for that," Mr. Holmes said. And what made matters worse that day at Grove City Medical Center was that his father, Joseph C. Holmes, had died that afternoon at age 86.

"I had just been to see my dad and then here they brought Brad. And I knew it was bad because they had already arranged to transport him to Mercy [hospital]," he said. "What can you do?"

Yesterday morning, just a few hours before Joseph C. Holmes' funeral, Brad Holmes died at UPMC Mercy.

"I haven't had much sleep in the last few days," Mr. Holmes said. "I don't even know how I had the courage to say a few words about my dad at his funeral."

For Mr. Holmes, his family, and members of the Pine Township community in Mercer County, what unfolded as a double tragedy started with a fire sparked by a hair dryer on the living room couch in a duplex on Garden Way.

The fire, which was ruled accidental by a state police fire marshal, also claimed the life of Patricia Andrews-Smith, 40.

"They told me things deteriorated really quickly," said Joseph Holmes, an assistant fire chief at the Pine Township fire department, where his other son, Christopher, is fire chief.

Mr. Holmes said he was not at the scene where his son, a firefighter since 2004, suffered burns over 75 percent of his body while conducting a search and rescue operation with fellow firefighter Scott King.

Mr. King, who also suffered injuries in the fire, was discharged from Mercy on Friday night.

"Brad was a well-trained firefighter," his father said. "He knew what he was doing. We train every Tuesday night with other fire departments and he knew what to do. But you can never really say what happened in that fire."

Yesterday, snow flurries and gray skies mirrored the somber mood inside the small volunteer fire station on Barkeyville Road.

A black cloth was hung over the fire department sign and the flag was lowered to half-staff as volunteer firefighters from near and far poured into the station to console one another.

"I can't even imagine how the family is coping today," said Levi Hipps, a Pine Township volunteer firefighter for 16 years. He recalled that Brad Holmes "was mostly quiet, but a big jokester when you got to know him."

Long before he started battling fires, Brad Holmes was a regular in the fire station, Mr. Hipps said.

"He grew up here. When he was a boy, his father used to bring him in here all the time. The former fire chief's wife would baby-sit him," he said.

Listening to the police scanner at the station, and spending countless hours at the station and at firefighter events, is why Brad Holmes decided to become a firefighter, his father said.

"It gets into your blood, the excitement of the physical work and rushing in to help others in your community," he said. "That's how many people I know get into it, by following around their firefighter fathers."

He said that his son was usually a back crew member on the fire truck and mostly helped with pulling the water hose and using hydraulic tools to break people out of cars or help people trapped in houses.

Brad Holmes was a junior at Slippery Rock University, where he was taking computer science courses, and also worked part-time at Wal-Mart.

He graduated from Grove City High School in 2004, and became a fully certified member of the fire department in 2005.

Pine Township took no fire calls yesterday. Instead, four Butler County fire departments filled in.

Brad Holmes is survived by his parents Joseph and Deborah Holmes, and his brother.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Cunningham Funeral Home, 306 Bessemer Ave., Grove City, with a firefighter tribute at 7 p.m.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the gymnasium at Grove City College.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the Brad Holmes Fund at Northwest Savings Bank, 200 S. Center St., Grove City, PA 16127

Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette
A memorial to firefighter Brad Holmes takes the place of his turnout gear at the Pine Township Volunteer Fire Department after his death yesterday from injuries suffered while fighting a fire in neighboring Grove City Saturday.