Updated: Friday, December 10, 1999 - 6:45 AM
Thousands Honor Fallen Heroes
Also See: Firefighters Remembered in Worcester and Video from the Memorial Service, Procession
and Scene
Note: New stories, first-hand reports -- and many additional photos in our Worcester slide show -- will be added Friday morning and afternoon. Please
check back then.
JOHN McELHENNY
Associated Press Writer
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- They marched - 30,000 strong in their dress blues - to pay their respects to six brave firefighters most of them never knew.
Together with an estimated 10,000 civilians, they made up what was believed to be the largest show of support for firefighters killed in the line of duty.
The streets of this grief-stricken city came to a virtual standstill Thursday during a solemn procession in memory of the firefighters killed in a warehouse fire last week. Mourners filled a 15,000 seat-arena, and spilled outside.
``Most cities have one hero. The city of Worcester was blessed with six,'' said Frank Raffa, president of the local firefighters union, quoting a handwritten sign seen along the procession route.
The men were remembered as heroes to their fellow firefighters, their communities and their families, including the 17 children they left behind. President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were at the service.
``In the days ahead, I hope every American will find an occasion to thank those in their communities who stand ready every day to put their lives on the line when the alarm bell rings,'' Clinton said.
Six yellow fire helmets were placed before the stage of the Worcester Centrum next to enlarged photographs of the firefighters, as fellow firefighters, politicians and clergy offered two hours of prayers and tributes.
Less than a mile away, firefighters continued sifting through rubble of the still-smoldering warehouse. Only two bodies have been recovered.
The men -- Joseph T. McGuirk, 38; James F. Lyons III, 34; Lt. Thomas E. Spencer, 42; Timothy P. Jackson, 51; Paul A. Brotherton, 41; and Jeremiah M. Lucey, 38 -- died last Friday after two became lost in the burning warehouse looking for homeless people believed to be inside. The others died trying to save them.
``We're all hurting. But we're driven by one desire,'' Raffa said, his voice choking with emotion. ``We will not give up. We will not leave the scene. We will not rest until we bring our brothers home.''
A homeless couple has been charged with causing the blaze by knocking over a candle during an argument. They have pleaded innocent to involuntary manslaughter.
The service was believed to be the largest of its kind, according to the International Association of Fire Fighters and Firehouse.com, an online resource for the firefighting community.
A three-mile-long stream of firefighters walked through streets lined with thousands of children and adults. Schools, municipal offices and many businesses were closed. The procession to the Centrum took three hours and continued after the service had begun.
Many firefighters from the 500-member Worcester department chose not to attend the service and instead continued searching for their missing comrades. The service was simulcast on large-screen televisions set up outside the burned warehouse.
``It's because they're still in there,'' said Linda Wilking, a firefighter from Belmont, N.H., who was at the warehouse. ``That's the hardest part _ the families can't rest until the bodies are recovered.''
Hundreds of uniformed firefighters and honor guards who couldn't fit inside the arena walked to the warehouse. 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.''
The names of the six men will be carved into a memorial wall for fallen firefighters in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The loss of life was the worst from a building fire in America in more than 20 years. Firefighters from as far away as Australia, Ireland, and Montreal, joined those from Seattle, Honolulu, Kansas City and all over the Northeast who made the trip to pay their respects.
``We have no idea who these guys were,'' said David Jones, a retired fire lieutenant from Newport, N.H. ``But if we can be here for their families, if we can spread the pain around all 20,000 or so of us, well, that's a pretty good thing.''
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