A funeral service for a firefighter who fell to her death while out for a bike ride Thursday will be held next week.
The service for 38-year-old Sara Rosen will be held Monday morning at 10 a.m. at Benjamin Park Memorial Chapel, located on Steeles Avenue West just south of Concord.
The fire chief is expected to speak at the service and those who served with Rosen will form an honour guard at the ceremony.
In the meantime, Rosen’s friends and colleagues spent Friday remembering her as someone who was a dedicated volunteer and an avid mountain biker.
Rosen, was mountain biking in the Kelso Conservation Area with a friend Thursday morning at around 10:30 a.m. when she fell off her bike and plummeted between 21 and 24 metres off the side of an escarpment.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Halton Regional Police said that Rosen’s body was recovered shortly after 9 p.m. on Thursday.
According to the Toronto Professional Firefighters’ Union, Rosen worked as a firefighter at Toronto Fire Station 443 in north Etobicoke, near Islington and Eglinton Avenues, for 15 years.
A makeshift memorial of flowers and a framed picture of Rosen were placed outside the fire station on Friday.
"In our line of work we unfortunately see a lot of tragedy on a day-to-day basis. It hits more when it's at home in the fire hall ," Capt. Michael Westwood of Toronto Fire told CTV Toronto.
The president of TPFU Frank Ramagnano said he had just met with Rosen on Tuesday.
“I remember the last thing I said to her was, ‘What are you going to be doing this weekend?’ She just lit up. She goes, ‘It’s summer, I’m going to be mountain biking,’” Ramagnano said. “She just loved doing it.”
"I think in Sara's case, a big thing is that she was a great role model... always full of energy," Westwood said.
Rosen had just been named an acting captain with Toronto Fire.
On Thursday afternoon, the TPFU released a statement acknowledging Rosen’s devoted work with Toronto Fire.
“It is with profound sadness that we learned of the tragic accident to one of our own Sara,” the statement read. “Sara had 15 years of service with Toronto Fire and was a truly proud member of Local 3888. Sara is a member of our Local 3888 Constitution Committee, a frequent attendee of our Union Meetings and help with many of our Charity/PR events. Sara is also City of Toronto Positive Space Ambassador.”
According to the union, Rosen also donated a kidney to her brother in 2004 and was a dedicated advocate of organ donation.
“There was no challenge she couldn’t meet,” Ramagnano told CP24 Thursday night. “She was a firefighter for three years, when her brother needed a kidney, and when they couldn’t find one, she stepped forward and gave hers.”
