By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – The Chelsea Fire Department will participate with Pleasant Grove Fire and Rescue in a “fire service” funeral to honor firefighter Phillip Bennett, who passed away Feb. 9.

Bennett, 55, died after battling an extended illness. A firefighter for 30 years, Bennett worked with both Chelsea and Pleasant Grove fire departments.

“It is with a heavy heart that I ask for your prayers for the family of Phillip Bennett,” Chelsea Fire Chief Wayne Shirley wrote in an email. “Phillip was forced to retire from our department a short while back due to his battle with an extended illness. Saturday morning, he finished the battle and now can rest without pain.”

Bennett’s fire apparatus, Engine 32, will join a processional from the Ridout’s Valley Chapel funeral home in Homewood to Union Springs Cemetery in Randolph for the burial.

“He served our community in an excellent manner and left a lot of our staff as better people from working with him. Please keep his wife, Debrah, and the rest of his family (as well as our fire service family) in your prayers. I am personally proud to have called him my coworker and my friend,” Shirley wrote.

Bennett’s viewing will be Feb. 13 from 4:30-7 p.m. at Ridout’s Valley Chapel, which is located at 1800 Oxmoor Road in Homewood. The funeral will be Feb. 14 at 11 a.m. at the chapel.

Any fire service agencies interested in participating in the processional should contact Shirley at 678-6060.