Tributes Dominate Fire Scene

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- Even the grinding noise of construction equipment could not drown out the tribute of a lone bagpiper, who played Thursday as workers searched the rubble of a warehouse that still entombed four firefighters killed there.

''It's like walking through a cemetery,'' said Connie Sullivan, a retired Springfield firefighter, as he walked past the building where fire consumed six men Friday night.

The tedious search continued for a sixth day, even as an estimated 40,000 people joined a three-hour procession and two-hour memorial service honoring the fallen men. The bodies of only two of the six men have been recovered; Timothy Jackson, 51, was pulled from the rubble on Sunday; James Lyons III, 34, was recovered Wednesday.

Hundreds of uniformed firefighters and honor guards who could not fit into the 15,000-seat Worcester Centrum walked to the warehouse about a mile away.

One by one, they filed past the building some called ''sacred ground.'' Some took off their hats. Some made the sign of the cross. Some put their hands over their hearts.

Vice President Al Gore, wearing a small plastic badge with pictures of the six fallen firefighters, left his limousine to join them.

The pilgrimage to the site of the tragedy gave solace to grieving firefighters, said Salem firefighter Ray Krajeski.

''We needed it,'' he said. ''It definitely helped us feel their pain. It helped us just by being on the sacred ground.

''You could feel everything these guys could feel. You turn the corner from the Centrum and you could smell it,'' Krajeski said.

A large-screen television was set up for workers to watch the memorial service, but was not visible to the hundreds of others who gathered at the fire scene.

A fire engine parked nearby has been virtually buried in flowers, wreaths and hand-lettered tributes. The makeshift memorial stands in the shadow of the building, where fires continued to flare up and fill the air with smoke and soot.

Nearby, Paula Fitzgerald played mournful tunes on her bagpipe.

''My goal in coming out here was to play for the firefighters still trying to find their friends,'' said Fitzgerald.

Lt. John Monahan of the Salem Fire Department said the impact of the tragedy has even been felt by his 6-year-old child.

''My son doesn't think it's such a cool job anymore,'' Monahan said.