FINAL SALUTE
Town renames street for young fireman killed in the line of duty
SHARON HILL » The memory of Michael Reagan Jr. will forever be memorialized in the borough by naming a street after the young volunteer firefighter who died in the line of duty.
Michael Reagan Way was formally dedicated by borough officials Friday evening on what was the 10th anniversary of Reagan’s death. The 19-year-old firefighter passed away on Sept. 29, 2007, three days after sustaining what turned out to be a fatal injury fighting a garage fire in the borough.
Mayor Harry Dunfee, Fire Chief William Benecke, borough councilmembers and first responders from the area convened at the intersection of High Street and — what was formerly Roberts Avenue – before the name change to Michael Reagan Way for the tribute.
“What makes a young man decide to be a fireman?” said Mayor Dunfee. “It’s a calling, it’s not a choice. Michael, at some time during his life was touched by the actions of other firemen. Things he witnessed in his life that inspired him to be what he saw.
“The choices weren’t his, it was pre-destiny. We stand here in honor not of the day he passed, but of the life he lived and the friends he made and the people he touched.”
Chief Benecke recalled Reagan as being “full of life” and outgoing during his time as a volunteer firefighter with the borough.
“He was with us for about two years as a member and everybody loved him,” he said. “He loved life and loved people.”
“Even to this day he’s still inspiring people to do (firefighting). With the fire services, you’re either in or you’re out … He was in and he wanted to serve the people by doing the fire service.”
Benecke recalled that Reagan’s aspirations included being a police officer as well, noting that community was his calling.
The calling would prove fatal when on Sept. 26, 2007, the company was dispatched to a fire in a detached garage structure on Coates Street. A falling steel beam struck Reagan in the head and also incapacitated two others, Chris Miller and Joseph Tesauro, who would eventually recover from their injuries. Reagan was eventually extricated from underneath the beam that crushed him and was sent to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he would succumb to his injuries on Sept. 29. service
Since then, Reagan has been honored in various ways by both the fire company and the borough. Borough Council President Michael Finnegan said that with the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, it was time to do something very important.
“We knew it was a big anniversary coming up and thought it would be fitting at this time to recognize the sacrifice of Michael Reagan,” said Finnegan. Council at their Sept. 22 meeting OK’d the name change of Roberts Avenue to Michael Reagan Way. The two-block street was decided on since there are no actual residences on the side street that runs parallel to Chester Pike between Brainerd Boulevard and Foster Avenue.
Reagan’s mother, Sue, said she was surprised to find out how the borough was going to pay their respects with a street name.
“I still can’t believe that they did that … I’m very proud that they did it,” she said.
The bond between Sharon Hill Fire Company and the Reagans has been constant in the past 10 years, with Sue calling the firefighters her family.
Sue was joined by her husband, Michael Sr., and their three daughters Kristina, Jessica and Marissa, who were given a commemorative street sign and flowers at the sign unveiling ceremony.
Dunfee said the honor was “well overdue” but “well deserved.”
“There’s going to be times kids are playing in the streets and they’re going to be looking at these street signs and they’re going to want to know who Michael Reagan is, and we’re going to be able to them: He was a young man that didn’t think of himself, gave of himself.”
Reagan was one of 106 on-duty firefighter deaths in 2007, according to the National Fire Protection Association. From 2008 to 2016 there have been almost 700 more deaths.
While Michael Reagan was the first to have a street named after him in the borough, Phil Wahl was honored in a similar way when Wahl Walk was dedicated to him. Wahl was a borough resident who died in the Vietnam War. Wahl Walk is a walking path that runs from Calcon Hook Road to Barker Avenue, starting at the school complex and along the borough fields.