It was a new beginning for the Fountain Hills Fire Department on Jan. 1, but with that came a bittersweet farewell to a man who served the community with Rural/Metro Corp. for more than three decades.
Todd Brunin had just reached retirement age and rather than make the transition to a new employer, he chose to retire after 40 years as a firefighter, nearly all of that in service to Fountain Hills.
He had just completed service in the U.S. Air Force where he served the Strategic Air Command, spending his duty hours inside a Titan Missile silo in the Midwest. It was 1980 and Brunin found himself looking to the future. He came to Arizona to work with a cousin at a western art bronzing forge in Scottsdale.
