Much of the Indiana County firefighting community is in mourning today over the passing of Blairsville’s Chief George “Turk” Burkley, who passed away early Monday morning.
Burkley joined the fire department in 1989 and was serving his 15th year as chief of the department. A former employee of the then Blairsville-Saltsburg School District’s maintenance and custodial department, Burkley devoted a lot of his time to the department after his retirement. Ab Dettorre with the fire department said that no matter what the situation was, Burkley acted calmly and intelligently.
Other fire departments from Coral-Graceton to New Alexandria have been posting their own tributes on social media. Black Lick Fire officials said in their post that Burkley was “a great and wonderful person along with being a great leader from who many learned from.”
Because the Blairsville Fire Department is now going through the mourning process, they have cancelled this Friday’s Fish Fry at the fire hall.
The Shoemaker Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Complete funeral details can be found in the obituary section of our website.
Chief George “Turk” Burkley was 62.
