ELWOOD — Firefighters from more than 25 Nebraska departments joined family and friends Wednesday to honor the life of Elwood Fire Chief Darren Krull.
Krull died April 7 when the SUV he was riding in collided head-on with a truck hauling water to the wildfire near Elwood that spread rapidly and has now burned 35,000 acres.
Krull, Darren
At the entrance to town, fire departments from Holdrege and Broken Bow teamed up to stretch an American flag between their aerial ladder trucks on Nebraska 23. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles from more than two dozen volunteer fire departments lined a residential side street and wrapped around a town block.
At the Elwood Fire Hall, a black sash draped the front door and the truck bay doors.
An estimated 250 people packed the sanctuary and fellowship room of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. In front of Krull’s flag-draped casket, the Rev. Aaron Witt read a portion of the Firefighters Prayer, “… Give me the strength to save some life, whatever be its age … ” and from John 15:13, which reads, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
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It’s the love of God, Witt said, that worked in Krull and in all firefighters, giving them the strength to answer a call anytime of the day or night, leave their families to help someone else and run into flames while others run out.
“When people go out to fight those fires, we see God. When we see people volunteering and giving food and supporting our communities, we see God,” Witt said.
Krull grew up in Glenvil, graduating from Sandy Creek High School in 1986. He joined the Glenvil Volunteer Fire Department and later moved to Overton, where he became the fire chief in 2003. He later moved with his family to Elwood, the Gosper County town of 700 people where he worked as the manager of the town’s Aurora Cooperative.
He had been the Elwood volunteer department’s fire chief since 2018.
Firefighting was Krull’s passion, Witt said, but his life was his family. He loved being a mentor and teacher, but also enjoyed spending time with his eight grandchildren, traveling with his wife, Cheryl, woodworking and cooking.
Krull was known to take meals to Gosper County dispatchers who were scheduled to work on holidays. He even taught his corgi mix dog, “Ace,” how to pray before meals.
Earlier, Elwood Assistant Fire Chief Dustin Clause said Krull was always mellow on the scene of a fire, no matter how crazy the situation was. He knew how to keep the other firefighters calm and their heads level.
“He was a great leader for the department,” Clause said.
At the end of the service, Witt had firefighters stand and read the Firefighters Prayer in its entirety. Tears flowed as a Gosper County dispatcher gave a final page for Krull across emergency radios.
Krull was to be buried later Wednesday at Hanover Cemetery near Glenvil.
Later Wednesday, Florida teenager Zechariah Cartledge of Running 4 Heroes was to run 1 mile carrying an American flag in Krull’s honor.
According to the Running 4 Heroes Facebook page, Cartledge runs 1 mile for every first responder who dies in the line of duty.