Longtime Tangipahoa Fire Superintendent dies after cancer battle

HAMMOND, La. (WVUE) - Tributes from local and state responder agencies have been pouring in with the announcement that longtime Tangipahoa Parish Fire Protection Superintendent Dennis Crocker has died after a two-year battle with cancer Sunday (Sept. 3) morning.

Chief Crocker was appointed and hired as the first and only administrator of the Tangipahoa Fire Board in 2012 after a few years of serving in the Kenner Fire Dept. for 25 years.

Crocker remained on the job through his cancer diagnosis until it was announced at the most recent Tangipahoa Fire Board meeting last week that he was leaving the position due to his illness taking a toll on him.

“When I would see him, I’d tell him I love him and when he saw me, he’d tell me he loved me,” said Crocker’s close friend Carlo Bruno, a Tangipahoa Parish councilman and Rural Fire District 2 commissioner. “It’s hard to explain what a man would do to run inside of a burning building, not just to save his family, but your family or mine.”

State Fire Marshal Dan Wallis said in a statement, “Dennis’ vision for growing the parish’s fire service capabilities, expertise and reputation to encompass all-hazards response in a professional and cohesive manner was bold.”

Responders all around Louisiana knew Crocker well and shared their condolences Sunday morning.

“He’s leaving us,” Bruno said, “but he’s leaving behind things that’ll never leave us and it’ll always be Dennis Crocker who started those things.”

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