Firefighter of the Year, Brock Currens

FALLEN FIREFIGHTER HAD BIG HEART AND DESIRE TO HELP OTHERS

By Randy Capps

Brock Currens was a 17-year-old junior at South Johnston. He was a loving son, a devoted friend and an avid outdoorsman.

He was also a cadet firefighter with the Four Oaks Fire Department — carrying on a family legacy of serving others.

It was in that service that he lost his life.

Currens was injured responding to a crash during an event at GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson on March 30 and died the following day at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh.

To honor his memory, Currens is the 2019 Johnston Now Honors Outstanding Firefighter honoree.

He loved being a firefighter, a trait he picked up from his family.

His stepfather, Anthony Lee, is a captain in Four Oaks, and there were other influences as well.

“Anthony is a captain,” his mother, Rhonda Lee, said. “My dad, who he never met, was a chief. His dad. I think he just felt like it was in his blood.

That was something he was meant to do, and he knew it made Anthony proud.”

He was also proud to be a part of the Fire Safety program at Johnston Community College.

“His tenth grade year was the first year they started this program,” she said. “They were offering JCC classes through high school to help you get closer to having your degree after school. … He had to go to (Smithfield- Selma) for that class, because they didn't have it at South. So, he'd go there for class and then come back to South. He didn't want to change schools.”

He studied and trained hard to learn the craft, and his mother believes that it was because he liked helping others.

“He did have a big heart,” she said. “He did like to help people. He was leaning a lot towards the EMS side of things, because those kind of calls really got him excited to think that he could help somebody. He wanted everybody to be proud of him, and he knew that was something that everyone would be proud of. It made him feel larger than life, I think.”

His passing impacted plenty of people. During his funeral procession on April 6, traffic in Four Oaks ground to a halt.

“My mama said, 'I don't think he would realize that he could singlehandedly close Four Oaks down on a Saturday,'” she said. “Nobody was getting anywhere when we were leaving the church.”

Currens was family oriented, and he had a large support system. As far as he was concerned, his father, Michael Currens, his wife, Karen and their daughter, Kendall, melded with Rhonda and Anthony to make one big family.

“He always liked that family unit,” she said. “I think that's why Michael, Karen and us are so close. He never really realized that we were two different families. He was just so connected to everybody. Family was big to him.”

Currens also had a group of close friends that were special to him — and to his mother.

“Right now, there are four or five of them at the house in his room, just piled up,” she said. “That's where

everybody went. He loved his friends. He had a small circle, but now we see he had a much larger circle than he realized. The ones he had were really close and really good friends.”

In many ways, he was like many other teenagers.

“He loved to fish,” Anthony said. “And he loved to four-wheel. He loved to hunt.”

“He was a typical 17 year old,” his mother added. “He loved video games, and he loved his room. He loved to be home. He was a homebody.”

He was also a member of the JoCo High Rollers truck club, an organization that raised more than $800 for his footstone after his passing.

Since then, there have been other fundraisers in his honor, and his family is using some of that money to support the cadet program and training program at JCC.

“He wouldn't believe the people that have really come out (to support us),” his mother said. “He was just proud to be a part of it.”