Person:Donald Burnett (3)

Lansing State Journal 10 April 1981

Burnett, Donald H. Holiday, Florida

Mr. Burnett, age 69, former City of Lansing Fire Chief, passed away in Florida on April 7, 1981. He had been a lifelong resident of Lansing, and a member of the Church of the Resurrection. He joined the Lansing Fire Dept. in Nov. of 1938, retiring as Chief in April of 1973. Surviving are: Wife, Agnes E.; 2 sons, Bruce E. Burnett of Miami, Patrick Michael Burnett of Lansing; 3 daughters, Mrs. James (Patricia) Tavarozzi of Troy, Mrs. Constantine (Karen) Demos of Houston, Tex., and Prudence Burnett of Troy; 3 brothers, George and Stanley Burnett of Lansing; Walter Burnett of Holiday, Fla.; 3 sisters, Evelyn Sears, Florence Duncan, Lucille Dudley all of Lansing; 5 grandchildren; many nieces and nephews. Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated by Rev. Fr. Francis T. Martin at 9:30 a.m. Sat. at the Church of the Resurrection, with interment in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery. Pallbearers will be: Peter Gurecki, Harold Ward, Raymond Bullock, Howard Berg, Carl Barratt and Roy Redburn. The Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Fri. in the Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel.

Lansing State Journal 8 April 1981

Ex-fire chief Burnett dies in Florida

Donald Burnett, 69, retired Lansing Fire Chief, died Tuesday evening of an apparent heart attack while eating dinner in his retirement home in Holiday, Fla. The stocky, outspoken Burnett was credited with reorganizing the department along its modern firefighting lines despite serving only about two years. Before being named chief in March 1971, Burnett was acting chief for one year, because of the illness of Chief Victor Space. IN AN UNPRECEDENTED move, Burnett, who officially retired in 1972, was rehired on a contractual basis for one year. During his first week as chief, Burnett had to direct the fighting of two of the worst fires in Lansing's history, the Plymouth Congregational Church and the Turner Street fire which threatened the entire north side of the city. However, it was the $4 million fire that destroyed the State Administration Building, now known as the Lewis Cass Building that he considered the "most frustrating." "WE FOUGHT IT day and night for five days and couldn't get to the fire" mainly because the fire was on the seventh floor and the department had no ladders to reach it before it went out of control, Burnett had recalled at this retirement. The memory of that fie was the background to Burnett urging the city to acquire a new 100-ft ladder truck and a "Squirt" aerial basket, both of which are designed to fight fires in tall buildings. Arrangements are by the Estes-Leadley Funeral Home.

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