![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/BPB2KLTPORFH3NHE4RHS4VLEMI.jpg\")
After two days of search efforts, the body of Dallas Fire-Rescue member, Juan Omar Chaidez was recovered from Lavon Lake. He worked for the city of Dallas for six years, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue.(Dallas Fire-Rescue)<\/p>\nNine Dallas firefighters-in-training made up rookie Class 350 in fall 2018. Only two were Texans. <\/p>\n
The other seven were from a 20-mile span of Southern California. Without their shared dreams of becoming public servants, they may have never known it. <\/p>\n
From the moment they met, classmates and Californians Corey Cadek and Juan Omar Chaidez became very best friends. Together they studied, trained, graduated and grew, before landing at Station 43, their homebase on Lombardy Lane in northwest Dallas for more than two years. <\/p>\n
Cadek said he was drawn to Chaidez\u2019s drive and relentless positivity, the smile that never seemed to leave his face until they were five to seven calls in, it was after midnight and they were barely holding on. <\/p>\n
Breaking News<\/p>\n
Even then, Cadek recalled, Chaidez would check on everyone around him before ever considering himself. <\/p>\n
\u201cHey there, how are you doing?\u201d Chaidez would ask. \u201dI know we\u2019re getting beat down.\u201d <\/p>\n
After two days of search efforts, the body of Dallas Fire-Rescue member, Juan Omar Chaidez was recovered from Lavon Lake. He worked for the city of Dallas for six years, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue.(Dallas Fire-Rescue)<\/p>\n
It was Chaidez\u2019s selfless nature and humility that was honored Tuesday morning at Lakepointe Church in East Dallas, less than two weeks after an accident on Lavon Lake cut his life and service to his city short. <\/p>\n
The morning of June 21, authorities say Chaidez, who was off-duty, was kayaking with his dog, A.J., on a stretch of the lake in Princeton when witnesses suddenly saw the kayak capsized and A.J. paddling alone. <\/p>\n
After two days of searching, Chaidez\u2019s body was recovered from the water on June 23. It was his 37th birthday. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so hard to understand why this happened to such a great person,\u201d Cadek said. \u201cWe will never know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Heart first, every single time\u2019<\/p>\n
Outside of work, Cadek and Chaidez went to bars, the movies and dinners where they\u2019d talk about work, their lives and their futures. <\/p>\n
Cadek said Chaidez loved animals, the Los Angeles Dodgers and more than anything, being on the water. When Chaidez would go back to California, he would head straight to Hermosa Beach \u201cto take it all in.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/YY2BMAV67ZDUNI5O7IQ2SQOMBU.jpg\")
Dallas Fire-Rescue firefighter and paramedic Mac Belino and son Ezra Belino line a procession outside of Lakepointe Church East Dallas during a funeral for firefighter Juan Omar Chaidez on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Dallas, Texas. (Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Chaidez was also the best line dancer and two-stepper Cadek had ever seen. <\/p>\n
Once, at the Cowboys Red River country bar, Chaidez asked to take Cadek\u2019s wife for a dance. Cadek wept as he recalled it Tuesday, how special Chaidez made her feel that night. <\/p>\n
Geremy Reese, a close friend of Chaidez for more than a decade, told The Dallas Morning News in a recent interview that country music \u2014 whether through bars, concerts, festivals or even an annual cruise \u2014 built an extended family for Chaidez in California. <\/p>\n
The platonic soulmates met at American Junkie, a bar in Hermosa Beach, where they spent countless \u201ccountry music nights\u201d at the dive in the years that followed. It\u2019s also where A.J., <\/b>his dog, got her initials.<\/p>\n
![\"Juan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/47CDEQVIPBADHL3CA6IME4EZKE.jpg\")
Juan Omar Chaidez (left) and Geremy Reese (right) paddle boarding in an undated photo.(Courtesy of Geremy Reese)<\/p>\n
The cohort of country music lovers traveled to Las Vegas in 2017 for the Route 91 Harvest music festival. More than 400 people were wounded and 58 were killed when a gunman opened fire on the 22,000-person crowd.<\/p>\n
It became the deadliest mass shooting in modern United States\u2019 history. <\/p>\n
Chaidez jumped in to help people in every way he could, said Kacy Thompson, who knew Chaidez for more than a decade. When someone in the crowd had an asthma attack, Chaidez kept them calm and moving. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs bullets rained down, he pulled friends up from the ground, got behind them to shield them, and guided them to safety,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n
After Chaidez found his group shelter in a nearby hotel basement, he went back out to help strangers, treating wounds and helping people get to ambulances. <\/p>\n
Chaidez had only been through paramedic school at the time of the shooting; Reese called him a \u201cborn first responder.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the aftermath, Thompson said Chaidez spent hours fundraising and packing and folding T-Shirts, ultimately helping raise $40,000 for the victims and their families. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t wait to be asked,\u201d she said. \u201cHe just showed up, heart first, every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n
A year later, Chaidez moved to Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u2018Trying to life the world\u2019<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, fire academy classmate Andrew Jones said Chaidez took pride in the job from the very beginning. He kept his front-zip Honeywell boots polished, wore too much edge-dressing, and worked out more diligently than anyone Jones knew. <\/p>\n
They once gave each other \u201cjailhouse tattoos\u201d at Jones\u2019 dinner table: \u201c350 Forever.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aWe started as classmates, we grew to friends and became brothers,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAs brothers in Christ, I loved him, and I know he loved me. I consider myself lucky to be his friend and his chosen family.\u201d <\/p>\n
Though Chaidez got his name from his father, every speaker \u2014 Cadek and Jones included \u2014 mentioned how deep his love ran for his mother, Silvia. An only child, Chaidez was a proud, self-proclaimed \u201cmama\u2019s boy.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3A6RTIYMVFCNJK6F2ZGU5RJLNY.jpg\")
A cross bearing the insignia of Dallas Fire-Rescue Engine 43 honors firefighter Juan Omar Chaidez who drowned during a kayaking accident on June 23 during his funeral on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Dallas, Texas. (Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Chief Jason Genn called Chaidez his \u201clittle brother.\u201d The two met in June 2019, Genn said, when he was tasked with training the new recruit. <\/p>\n
At each of his assignments, Chaidez \u201cjust fit,\u201d Genn said. He was almost always fixing something, or doing a \u201cridiculous amount\u201d of pushups and burpees, \u201ctrying to lift the world.\u201d <\/p>\n
He earned his place, time and time again. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will miss him always, and I will think of him every shift for the rest of my career,\u201d Genn said. <\/p>\n
Genn doesn\u2019t like to think that Chaidez is really gone. <\/p>\n
Instead, he imagines Chaidez has gone back home to California. <\/p>\n
To Hermosa Beach. To his mama.<\/p>\n
Staff writers Sury Chakraborty and Maggie Prosser contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine Dallas firefighters-in-training made up rookie Class 350 in fall 2018. Only two were Texans. The other seven…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,5025,50,26392,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-31147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-fire","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northwest-dallas","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114780686580093136","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}