Altus community lined the streets to honor late Fire Chief Greg Cross

ALTUS, Okla. (KSWO) - Funeral services were held on Thursday for Greg Cross, the Altus Fire Departments late fire chief, who passed away from pancreatic cancer.

Fire Departments and other first responders from the surrounding area showed up in support. If someone wasn’t able to attend the service, they lined the sidewalks throughout the city in his honor, and for interim fire chief Neil Bonds, this doesn’t come as a shock.

“The community of Altus shows up. I mean when someone is down the community of Altus is always there, so it was neat,” said Bonds. “The football players were lined up. They were in the middle of practice. Our cheerleaders were in the middle of practice, they were lined up. The streets were lined up. It was quite an amazing event.”

Cross served the Altus Fire Department for 29 years, and Bonds who worked with Cross for 23 of those 29 years shared his experience.

“It was a blast. He was always fun,” Bonds said. “He treated everyone equal, I mean from the top guy to the bottom guy everyone got treated equal. He was excellent at coming up with training. The stuff that he taught us will probably still be used in our fire service for years down the road.”

Bonds said Cross left some big shoes to fill, but with the support that was shown today, Cross left the department in a good place.

“We want to make sure that we make Greg proud. We’ve got a great department, we’ve got great guys. It’s going to be tough for a couple of weeks, but I think with everyone sticking together, we’re staying busy, you know, the family is with us as we’re with them, so we’re going to make it,” Bonds said.

It’s obvious that Cross left behind a great legacy for the city of Altus.

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