The small community of Tagish is grieving the loss of a well-loved pillar earlier this week.

Kurt Gantner was the chief of the Tagish Volunteer Fire Department.

He also ran the local motel, store and restaurant, and was secretary of the local advisory council and the community's postmaster.

But more importantly, friends say he was someone you could count on to be welcoming, helpful and friendly whenever there was a need.

Gantner died Tuesday on his way to the scene of a house fire the night before in Tagish.

He was found in the department's first responder truck, which had gone off the road but didn't appear to have been in a traffic incident.

The exact cause of his death is not known. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.

Gantner moved to Tagish in 2006 with his wife, Jutta, after decades as a firefighter in Germany.

The couple's store and restaurant almost instantly became the meeting place for community members looking for good conversation, a game of cribbage or the weekly barbecue buffet, said Paul Dabbs, the local council chair and a close friend of the couple.

"If you wanted to meet people, that is where you went,” Dabbs said in an interview today. "Kurt would introduce everyone and make everyone feel welcome.”

The 49-year-old spent the last three years in Tagish as fire chief, and used his extensive experience to train the team of 13 to respond to any emergency.

"I don't think we fully appreciated the sense of confidence you got by having someone like that on the team,” said Dabbs, also a volunteer firefighter. "If there was ever anything you needed to know, he was always there to ask.”

The last fire the team fought prior to his death was a testament to Gantner's leadership skills and focus on training, said Vicki Hancock, president of the Tagish Volunteer Fire Department.

A house was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived Monday night. Help had to be called in from surrounding communities to put it out.

The team immediately began relaying water to the site. That was a procedure they had practised three weeks ago in one of Gantner's many training sessions.

It went off without a hitch.

"That was his whole goal,” Hancock said. "To build a strong, well-trained team, and he did that.”

But Gantner's love for firefighting and firefighters went beyond his community, said Jim Regimbal, president of the Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs.

Regimbal called Gantner "a pillar of strength” within his community and among fire chiefs.

"It's a huge loss to everyone who knew him,” Regimbal said. "His knowledge and compassion were incredible.”

The two sat down at the association's annual conference last week and discussed the importance of airbag safety for firefighters responding to car accidents.

Gantner suggested each rescue vehicle contain a chart explaining where to find the pressurized cylinders which deploy the airbags in each type of vehicle.

If a firefighter accidentally cuts one of these tubes during a rescue, the release of pressure could be dangerous.

Regimbal said Wednesday he had planned to call Gantner to discuss the idea further.

In Tagish, the community is just starting to come to terms with the huge loss.

"Whenever the need was there, so was Kurt,” said friend Mike Bartsch. "He would do whatever needed to be done to make the community better. Everyone is going to miss him.”

An informal memorial has been scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Tagish Firehall.