Friends and family mourn death of ‘selfless’ and ‘brave’ Buninyong CFA lieutenant Connor Prunty

The Ballarat community is reeling after the shock death of a 24-year-old firefighter only weeks after a devastating cancer diagnosis.

The Ballarat community is mourning the death of 24-year-old Mount Clear man Connor Prunty.

Connor Prunty’s courage has left a lasting imprint on his colleagues and family.

The “selfless” Mount Clear man, a passionate CFA volunteer at the Buninyong-Mount Helen brigade, died last Friday at 24 years old.

With his older sibling’s firefighting helmet at hand, Connor’s brother Tom called him “down to earth, quiet” and said he “didn’t really like any sort of fuss”.

Connor, one of three Prunty children, studied engineering when he left school before moving to a business-IT course.

The CFA brigade, where he was the fifth lieutenant, was his second family.

Connor’s “quiet leadership” there was quickly recognised following his enrolment five years ago with his achieving, among other accolades, the 2019 firefighter of the year award.

Tom Prunty, Connor’s younger brother, with his sibling’s CFA helmet.

Connor recently spent 10 days in New Zealand preparing for a new job.

It was about that time he fell ill, and some six weeks ago he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

He was told while in the ICU at the Royal Melbourne Hospital that the illness had advanced too far.

“Nothing really went too right after he got diagnosed,” Tom said.

“The whole way through he was just really brave and not really thinking about himself.

“The whole time he was worried about how mum, dad, my sister, and I were taking it.

“Even up until the last couple of days when he was pretty crook he wasn’t saying much, but he was asking where my sister was and how she was.”

Tom said his family was “struggling”, but had a strong support network to help them get by.

He thanked the health workers who looked after Connor and the CFA members who had lent a hand to his family.

“It really just shows how much everyone did love him,” Tom said.

The Buninyong-Mount Helen Fire Brigade described Connor as a “friend and mentor to many”.

“He was always there to undertake whatever was required whether this be within our local community or though deployments around Victoria and interstate,” it wrote online.

“Our thoughts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.”

Connor.

Friends also left him tributes.

“I had the pleasure of sitting beside Connor at work for some months this year,” one woman wrote.

“A selfless soul if I ever did meet one. Often the big no no in the office was to say the ‘q word’ when the lines were quiet.

“I’d hold up a small wooden easel ‘touch wood!’ and we’d both hurry to touch it before we jinxed ourselves.

“Not the same without you mate. Rest easy.”

Another said: “I had the privilege of meeting Connor before I started working for CFA.

“I was working at the Police Assistance Line at the time and was one of Connor’s trainers.

“He was very quietly spoken and called me over on one of his first days, he told me he was a member and wanted to know if he needed to respond would he be free to go.

“His life and focus was to help people, whether it was at PAL or CFA.

“We will mourn you but we will celebrate what you achieved in your time Connor.”

According to Cancer Australia, bowel cancer was the second most common cause of cancer death across the country in 2020, and is expected to remain so in 2022.