Black bunting and flowers lined the Walnuttown Fire Company, where both chiefs had been members since their teenage years.<\/p>\n
Officials said each man had children who are currently firefighters and are now mourning the loss of their fathers.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/18847791_040526-wpvi-Chief-Jeffory-Buck-and-Assistant-Chief-Robert-Shick-Jr-img.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Fire companies from surrounding areas are rotating shifts to cover Walnuttown Fire Company through the week, providing relief as the department grieves.<\/p>\n
Lt. Ryan Tyson of the Walnuttown Fire Company was the first to respond to the crash scene around 6 p.m. Saturday on Kutztown Road in Richmond Township.<\/p>\n
“It’s not something that anybody should have to go through,” Tyson said.<\/p>\n
He said he spoke to the chiefs at the scene.<\/p>\n
“I said some words to them. I believe that they knew I was there,” Tyson said, later adding, “Not something that you’re ever prepared for.”<\/p>\n
Officials said Buck and Shick were riding in a UTV, a side-by-side utility vehicle, while assisting in the search for a missing woman when a Toyota Camry struck them head-on.<\/p>\n
Both firefighters later succumbed to their injuries at area hospitals.<\/p>\n
“They’re going to be missed but they’re not going to be forgotten,” Tyson said.<\/p>\n
Despite the crash, search crews continued their efforts and later that evening located the missing woman.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood police identified the driver of the Camry as 26-year-old Alexander Sepulveda-Rivera of New York.<\/p>\n
Investigators said he and a passenger ran from the scene but were found nearby.<\/p>\n
Authorities said charges are forthcoming and that the driver already had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.<\/p>\n
As the investigation continues, colleagues and community members are remembering the two chiefs for their personalities and commitment to the fire service.<\/p>\n
“They kept it light. They say that the firefighting community is a brotherhood. It really is,” Tyson said.<\/p>\n
Investigators are expected to release additional information about the crash on Tuesday.
<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RICHMOND TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — A Berks County community is mourning the loss of two longtime fire chiefs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[71853,128,130,129],"class_list":["post-158697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-71853","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}