Photos by Ron Jeffers
Wallington (NJ) volunteer Firefighter John Barnas, 23, answered his final alarm on June 26th, 2014. Barnas had been battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for four years and received three stem cell transplants. It seemed he had beaten cancer, but he caught the flu. The chemotherapy had left his immune system weak and he died of complications from pneumonia.
His father Gregory, a volunteer fire captain in Wallington and a career captain in Jersey City, died of a heart attack while battling a restaurant fire in Wallington on February 28. John and his brother Kevin, also a local volunteer firefighter, were working at that fire. His father had been donating blood cells for his son’s treatments.
John Barnas was captain of the Wallington Junior Fire Department, and in 2008 he joined the W.F.D. with Engine Co. 2. He also served with the Wallington Emergency Squad. In addition, he also volunteered with the Waymart and Browning fire departments in Pennsylvania while on vacation with family. John had passed the civil service exam to become a career firefighter and hoped to join his brother Kevin on the Jersey City Fire department
After a funeral mass at Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, firefighters from New Jersey and Pennsylvania gathered at Engine 2’s quarters for Barnas’ last alarm.
