Last Mass. Firefighter Laid To Rest

AP World Wide Photos/Neal Hamberg Denise Brotherton, the widow of Worcester firefighter Paul A. Brotherton, blows a kiss as her husband's remains are placed on a fire engine following a funeral Mass at St.Joseph's Church in Auburn, Mass. Friday, Dec.17, 1999. Brotherton's funeral is the last of the six firefighters killed in a Worcester warehouse blaze Dec.3

Firefighters gather for symbolic last alarm

JOHN McELHENNY
Associated Press Writer

AUBURN, Mass. (AP) -- The last of the six firefighters killed in a warehouse fire was laid to rest Friday in a familiar ceremony: the white-gloved salute, the flag-draped casket, the bagpiped blare of ``Amazing Grace.''

The funeral of Paul A. Brotherton capped a weeklong stretch in which the Worcester Fire Department buried six men who died trying to save homeless people believed to be trapped inside a burning warehouse.

Brotherton, 41, a father of six sons, was killed along with Joseph T. McGuirk, 38, James F. Lyons III, 34, Lt. Thomas E. Spencer, 42, Timothy P. Jackson, 51, and Jeremiah M. Lucey, 38.

``It's been a long two weeks,'' said Worcester firefighter Brian Johnson.

For a final time Friday, firefighters returned to the warehouse site to remove a makeshift memorial and pay tribute to the six men and the search crews who found their remains.

NECN Video: Brotheron Laid to Rest AP World Wide Photos/Neal Hamberg Worcester firefighters carry the remains of firefighter Paul A. Brotherton as his widow Denise Brotherton walks behind the casket following a funeral Mass Friday, Dec. 17, 1999, at St. Joseph's Church in Auburn, Mass.

A symbolic all-out alarm, which is used to signify a fire scene has been cleared, was to be rung at 6:13 p.m., when the first alarm sounded Dec. 3 for the blaze at the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse.

On Friday, firefighters and their families looked forward to moving beyond the grueling schedule of work, wakes and funerals.

``It's Christmas, and guys don't even realize it,'' said Worcester fire Lt. John Daly.

The Rev. Peter J. Scanlon, chaplain of the Worcester Fire Department, said the hectic pace had kept many of the firefighters from realizing their grief.

``It's really going to sink in now,'' said Scanlon, who attended all six funerals. ``What do you do when you go back to your unit and there's two guys missing?''