A Topeka Fire Department truck carrying the coffin of firefighter Capt. Tony Cox is saluted by third-graders at Most Pure Heart of Mary School on Monday.

Topeka ? If there was a theme to Monday’s funeral service for Topeka fire Capt. Anthony Cox, it was family.

Two families, actually: one at home, and the other at the firehouse.

During Monday’s 90-minute service at the Kansas Expocentre, there was a promise that one family would be watching out for the other.

“We will always be there for you,” Topeka fire Capt. Kent Dederick said to Cox’s family. “We will be just a phone call away.”

It was a sea of blue at the service as about 1,000 people, many of them firefighters from Kansas and across the nation, gathered to say goodbye.

Cox, 44, collapsed and died at the scene of a southwest Topeka apartment fire on Aug. 13. For members of his company, it was a day they’ll never forget.

“I’ve always said I’ve never had a bad day at work. I can’t say that anymore,” said fire Lt. Ron Rutherford.

Cox’s sister spoke of her brother’s love for the life of a fireman and his willingness to put himself in harm’s way to help others.

“God created Tony to be a soldier in his army of humanity to demonstrate with the ultimate sacrifice that dying so that others may live is noble, and that we have to have men like him to make our world bearable,” Dotty Cox Karnowski said.

Topeka Fire Chief Howard Giles presented Cox’s family with a Medal of Valor. Cox is survived by his wife, who is pregnant, and three children.

The Shawnee County Coroner’s Office said Cox’s death was caused by heart disease and heat. The 21-year fire department veteran collapsed as he went to take a break from fighting a fire at the Villa West apartments.

– KTKA-TV reporter and anchor Ben Bauman can be reached at (785) 215-8532.