What started as a show of support by fellow firefighters for a fallen comrade will now turn into a community-wide effort and fundraiser.

Pine Township firefighter Bradley Paul Holmes died on March 5 from burns he suffered in a duplex fire at 132 Garden Ave. on Feb. 29. Lt. Scott King was also injured in the blaze, suffering first and third degree burns on his face and arms.

More than 400 firefighters took part in a processional last Friday to honor Holmes, while more than 2,000 people attended the 21-year-old’s funeral last Saturday.

Many local firefighters expressed surprise over how many community members turned out to honor one of their fallen brethren.

“As we escorted Brad to his final resting place we were simply in awe as the community lined the streets to offer their support,” fire chief Chris Holmes, Brad’s brother, wrote on the Pine Township Engine Company Web site. “Those hundreds of people who braved the cold and snow brought warmth to our hearts and to the Holmes family.”

Aside from showing their support at the funeral, many community members have asked how they can further support the Pine Township Engine Company and the families of Holmes and King.

They will be able to do so in several weeks, as several Pine Township firefighters, with the help of a few local businesses, are in the midst of producing T-shirts and car decals honoring Holmes.

The idea for the T-shirts and decals came from a separate idea intended for firefighters to display their support of Holmes, according to Pine Township firefighter Chris Baer.

“My original idea was to do a design to put on decals for firefighters’ personal vehicles and local department fire trucks,” explained Baer, who also serves as captain of Jackson Center Fire Company.

So he took his idea to Adam Coulson of Grove City Creative Images who produced over 3,000 decals free of charge.

According to Baer, the decals turned out great and many local firefighters put them on their vehicles. Since the response was so positive, Baer also decided that the design would look great on a T-shirt.

Through several e-mails and phone calls, Baer got in contact with Chris Ithen of Ithen Printing Services, who agreed to produce the T-shirts.

Ithen said it was an easy decision to print the T-shirts for the fire company.

“It’s amazing what these volunteers do and it can’t be appreciated enough,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to print T-shirts than put out fires.”

Ithen said he donated more than 300 of the shirts, which Baer then gave out to Pine Township firefighters.