Medic to receive full honors

By Uriah A. Kiser

Published: November 14, 2008

Cecelia Turnbough, a Dale City medic who died suddenly Sunday afternoon during a training exercise, will be laid to rest next week.

The public has been invited to pay their respects for the fallen EMT on Friday, Nov. 21 at Mountcastle Funeral Home in Dale City.

The following day, the Dale City Volunteer Fire Department, where Turnbough served the past eight years, will give a “full honors” memorial service at the C.D. Hylton Chapel in Woodbridge.

After the service ambulances and fire trucks will parade down Dale Boulevard, past three of the four Dale City fire stations where she served.

Turnbough will then be laid to rest during a private family ceremony.

Volunteer members from across the county, as well as career staff, are expected to attend the funeral. Surrounding jurisdictions, like Stafford County, have offered to help assist emergency operations in Prince William during the memorial.

“[Stafford Fire Chief Rob Brown] has offered both our heartfelt condolences as well as our full support for anything they may need during this very trying time,“ said Mark Stone, spokesperson with Stafford Fire and Rescue.

DCVFD sent out an email Thursday asking other departments inside the county to help staff the Dale City stations from 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 through 9 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, DCVFD spokesperson Steve Chappell said.

The department has received several replies stemming from their request, Chappell added.

“Making sure the residents and visitors of Dale City have adequate fire coverage will not be a problem,“ Chappell said.

Turnbough mysteriously collapsed around 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Prince William County Public Safety Training Center.

She was inside the Maze—a training exercise held inside a dark trailer which uses no smoke or fire to simulate a burning building. She was pronounced dead just over an hour later at a local hospital.

She leaves behind a husband, Chris Turnbough, who is also a firefighter with DCVFD, and three children—two 13-year-olds and a 19-year-old.

Turnbough is the second emergency responder to be honored at the Hylton Chapel in less than a month.

On Oct. 31, more than 300 police officers, family members, emergency crews and Fairfax County employees flocked to the event site to honor Lt. Frank Stecco, a Fairfax County police officer who also died during a training accident.

Stecco drowned in Pohick Bay, near Woodbridge, on Oct. 21.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.