- February 19, 2025
When the fire blocked the only exit, they knew they were in trouble. Air in the small attic quickly depleted. They were trapped.
That’s when firefighter John Keppler III looked to his father, who took off his mask and helmet and dropped to the floor, kicking and hitting the walls until he broke out of the side of the house and threw his helmet out of the hole he made, catching the attention of a photographer outside.
Other firefighters on the scene rushed to assist.
“He saved me,” Keppler said. “My dad saved me, like he saved everyone. That’s just what he did.”
Keppler’s father, John Keppler Jr., died of a heart attack after responding to a call March 21, 2002. He is the first and only Flagler County firefighter to die in the line of duty. He was 54.
John Keppler Jr.'s name was placed on Florida’s Fallen Firefighter Wall and Memorial earlier this month. He was honored Friday at a memorial service — 10 years after his death.
The Keppler family comes from a long line of firefighters. Since 1860, every man in the family has entered the profession. Fighting fires is in their blood, the Kepplers say.
“I was exposed to it my whole life,” said Andrew Keppler, the son of John Keppler Jr. “Growing up as kids, we didn’t have sports stars as heroes. We had firefighters.”
Both of the Keppler sons remember spending childhood watching their father going to work and going to the fire station on weekends.
“It was a common occurrence for people on the street to stop and thank my dad,” John Keppler III said. “I grew up watching that. I wanted to be like him.”
Before he died, John Keppler Jr. was working as a volunteer captain in the Flagler County station where his two sons were lieutenant firefighter paramedics.
John and Andrew both started their careers when they turned 14 — first John, who’s three years older, and then Andrew. At that age, they were able to become junior volunteer firefighters. Since then, they worked alongside their father, taking calls together while all working at the same station.
“When I was fighting fires with my dad, I always felt safe,” John Keppler III said. “It didn’t matter what the call was. He took care of us.”
At the busiest point in his 40-year career, John Keppler Jr. was working full-time as a paramedic and volunteering at the local fire station and rescue squad in Pennsylvania.
When he retired in 1993, John Keppler Jr. moved to Flagler County and joined Flagler County Fire Rescue as a volunteer.
Andrew Keppler moved at the same time as his father, and John Keppler III soon followed. The Kepplers are close, and so most of the family has moved south, too. Four members of the family are currently working for the county’s emergency services.
John Keppler Jr.’s death in 2002 was sudden and unexpected. He was a volunteer captain with Fire Station No. 71, and while answering a medical call, he mentioned he wasn’t feeling well.
When the crew returned to the station, he felt worse. He went home.
His wife, now named Kathleen Morey, drove her husband to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
John Keppler Jr. made it within 5 feet of the emergency room doors before he collapsed. He died in the parking lot.
“It was devastating,” Andrew Keppler said. “He was not only my father, but he was also a brother in arms. We saved lives together; we saw people lose their lives together."
When a firefighter dies of a heart attack, it’s considered an on-duty death if it happens within 24 hours of a call. The Kepplers didn’t know until about two years ago that John Keppler Jr. had answered a call the day he died, but since they found out, they’ve been fighting to get his name added to the memorial.
“When you’re at the station, once the bell goes off, your heart goes from zero to one thousand in about one second,” John Keppler III said. “Imagine doing that again and again for 40 years like my dad did. It takes its toll.”
The recognition John Keppler Jr. is getting brings a sense of closure to his death, his sons said. Their mother's life was dismantled when he died, and their older sister, Monica Rogers, was upturned as well.
Before now, it had felt as though their father had been forgotten after he died, the Kepplers said. The memorial shows them that his work wasn’t for nothing.
“He deserved something,” John Keppler III said. “He dedicated all of his life to people he didn’t know. It didn’t have to be an emergency. If someone needed help, he was there. He was the guy you could always count on.”
