GOSHEN, Ind. — The City of Goshen has renamed Fire Station 3 as Nethercutt Memorial Station to honor former EMS Chief Bruce Nethercutt.
The public ceremony took place Friday, May 2, 2025. Nethercutt died in 2023 from job-related cancer. The station at 1203 College Ave. served as his longtime post. It was also home during his 26-year fire service career.
Goshen Fire Chief Anthony Powell and Mayor Gina Leichty led the ceremony. Joining them were firefighters, Council members, community residents, and Nethercutt’s family.
“Chief Nethercutt was many things,” Powell said. “He was a husband, father, grandfather and a son. And to all of us here at the Goshen Fire Department, he was truly a brother.”
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Nethercutt Legacy of Service
Nethercutt joined the department in the late 1990s and rose to House Captain of Station 3. He became EMS Chief, where he oversaw life-saving operations and helped modernize emergency medical services in Goshen. He was also a longtime instructor at Ivy Tech Community College, where he trained future firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics.
“Bruce shows us that true leadership isn’t about rank,” Powell said. “It’s about heart. It’s about lifting others up, being there in their toughest moments, and leaving a legacy bigger than yourself.”
Nethercutt is Goshen’s only recognized line-of-duty death. His name appears on both the Indiana Fallen Firefighters Memorial Wall and the International Association of Fire Fighters Memorial Wall.
Before cutting the ribbon, Mayor Leichty praised Nethercutt’s influence on the department and the city. He is an example, she said, of a department dedicated to treating their work as a calling, not a job. In Nethercutt’s spirit, Goshen’s emergency responders remain ready to serve the public at any hour, regardless of risk.
“Bruce’s legacy is alive in every life saved and every neighbor comforted,” Leichty said.” It lives in those he mentored and those he taught, both in this department and in the classroom. … To his family, to his colleagues, and to the community he served, we say thank you.”