ETX Remember Victim of Well Explosion
ETX firefighters remember victim of well site explosion
Posted: Jul 06, 2012 5:51 PM CDT Updated: Jul 06, 2012 6:29 PM CDT By Bob Hallmark - bio | email Jeremiah Neeley. (Source: Facebook) KILGORE, TX (KLTV) -
East Texas firefighters are remembering one of their own who died in an oilfield accident. Jeremy Neeley, 34, of Kilgore, died in the explosion at a well site off County Road 445, near the Chireno community in Nacogdoches County on Thursday.
Neeley had been a firefighter with Kilgore for around five years, before moving on to an oilfield job.
"He had a smile on his face everyday when he come here to serve the citizens of Kilgore. He was a really good man good friendly man," says Kilgore firefighter Gary Tyson.
Investigators say the end cap of a high pressure pumping rig blew off and killed Neeley.
His death has been hard for his friends to accept.
"Try to pray about it and talk to our friends about it here that knew him," says Kilgore firefighter will Hackney.
"I was devastated, when you spend the kind of time that we do together, you form pretty tight bonds and those don't break even though the guys leave," says Tyson.
His friends say he was a top notch firefighter and they remember his cheerful demeanor and the bonds he forged with them all.
"When kids came around trying to see the trucks he'd be the first to go out and help the kids see the fire trucks," Hackney says.
"His heart was still here his mind was still here , he took what he learned here and tried to take it into the oilfield and help them as well," adds Tyson.
His life will not be forgotten by those he shared it with. "God be with him," Tyson says.
Two others were injured in the accident and taken to a Nacogdoches hospital. Domenia Mitchell, 30, has been released from the hospital. Lakelvin Fletcher, 29, we're told, is still hospitalized.