Fire officials in Baltimore announced plans Friday for a memorial for three firefighters who died earlier this week after a vacant rowhome partially collapsed, trapping them inside.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Baltimore Convention Center, the Baltimore City Fire Department said in a news release.
Four firefighters were battling the blaze inside the rowhome early Monday when part of the three-story building collapsed, fire Chief Niles Ford has said. Crews removed piles of debris to reach the trapped firefighters and one firefighter was immediately freed and taken to a hospital, Ford said.
Firefighters salute as an ambulance carries a deceased firefighter after they were pulled out of a collapsed building while battling a two-alarm fire at a vacant row home, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in Baltimore. Officials said several firefighters died during the blaze. (AP PhotoJulio Cortez)
Two other firefighters were pronounced dead at the hospital and another at the scene Monday. Ford identified those killed as Lt. Paul Butrim, firefighter/paramedic Kelsey Sadler and EMT/firefighter Kenny Lacayo.
EMT/firefighter John McMaster was released from the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center on Thursday. The fire department tweeted photos of colleagues greeting McMaster as he left the hospital.
The department also announced Thursday that Sadler was posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
An excavator is used to pull debris off a building during efforts to retrieve the body of a deceased firefighter caught in the building's collapse while battling a two-alarm fire in the vacant row home, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in Baltimore. Officials said several firefighters died during the blaze. (AP PhotoJulio Cortez)