Worcester Fire Department Chief Michael Lavoie stood outside the Grove Street fire headquarters, fighting back tears.
Behind the chief was a reminder of how cruel December has been to the Worcester Fire Department.
As Lavoie announced the death of Firefighter Christopher Roy, who died fighting a Sunday morning blaze on Lowell Street, the memorial plaque in honor of the six Worcester firefighters who died on Dec. 3, 1999, rested on the fire headquarters brick wall.
The city just mourned those firefighters during the 19th anniversary. On Saturday, the city remembered Firefighter Jon D. Davies Sr., who died on Dec. 8, 2011, while battling a fire inside an Arlington Street three-decker.
"Once again, December has proven to be the cruelest month of the year for the Worcester Fire Department," Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty said.
A father, a brother and a son, Roy was called to 5-7 Lowell St. Sunday morning when a fire broke out inside the six-unit building just before 4 a.m. The fire reached to five-alarms as the battle against the flames continued.
Roy became trapped inside with other firefighters after heaving fire forced firefighters on the second floor to evacuate. Firefighters escaped on ladders.
Roy and another firefighter were freed from the blaze and taken to an area hospital. Roy, a 36-year-old Shrewsbury resident and father of a young girl, died from his injuries. The second firefighter is in stable condition.
"Across Worcester this morning, joy turned to sadness as the word of Christopher Roy's death spread," Petty said, surrounded by city officials and firefighters.
Roy joined the department 2 1/2 years ago and was assigned to Ladder 4, Group 3, at the Webster Square fire station, located just minutes away from the Lowell Street fire scene.
"This is a difficult day for the Worcester Fire Department and particularly painful as this is the week we remember and mourn the passing of Worcester Firefighter Jon Davies and the six who perished in the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire," Lavoie said.
Those who served and continue to serve in the Worcester Fire Department talk, sometimes quietly, about the pain December brings. The Lowell Street fire brought that pain even more to the forefront with Roy's death.
City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. called Roy's death "gut-wrenching" especially in the wake of Davies' death and the deaths of the six Worcester firefighters who died battling the massive Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire.
Remembered as the "Worcester Six," the firefighters who perished in the flames were Lt. Thomas Spencer, Lt. Timothy Jackson Sr., Lt. James Lyons III and Firefighters Jeremiah Lucey, Paul Brotherton and Joseph McGuirk.
Firefighters risk their lives to save others. They do it on a daily basis and they did it again Sunday in order to try to save their fellow firefighters, officials said during a somber press conference.
"Today they showed incredible heroism, dedication and devotion in their efforts to save Firefighter Roy," Augustus said. "It is important for us to know and appreciate how incredibly hard the men of the Worcester Fire Department fought to save Chris' life and we know how devastating this is to them."
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