Friday, December 10, 1999

Firefighters' deaths hit hard

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BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Watching Thursday'stelevised memorial service for six firefighters who died in the line of duty a week agowas difficult for Lt. Kurt Brinkman of the Cincinnati Fire Division.

        But the hardest part came when he saw the wife of one of the firefighters crying while holding her young son.

        “I have three small children. That was very difficult for me — knowing the possibility of not being able to see my children grow up,” said Lt. Brinkman, a 14¹/₂-year veteran of the oldest professional fire department in the country.

        On Thursday, Tristate firefighters shared the pain of their brethren in Worcester, Mass., where six died while battling a blaze in an abandoned warehouse. Nine Cincinnati firefighters and two from Mason were among those from the Tristate who joined more than 30,000 people at the memorial service in Worcester. Flags across the Tristate flew at half-staff and firefighters from various departments are raising money for the victims' families.

        Local firefighters said they are doing what they can to help.

        “They were trying to do what they thought was right, and they paid the ultimate price,” said Middletown Deputy Fire Chief Dennis Sorrell.

        Lt. Brinkman, of Engine 3 at Ninth and Broadway, downtown, said the Massachusetts tragedy is a wake-up call.

        “We go to work in the morning. We go home the next morning, and we go about life like nothing happened,” he said. “... When these types of incidents happen, it's a reality check for us here to understand how lucky we are ... and that basically in the blink of an eye it can completely change.”

        Glendale Fire Chief Thomas Thacker, who runs a volunteer department, said firefighters everywhere have been affected. “Losing people, that's not our business. Our business is safety, and we try to send people back home,” he said.

        “We do know what a dangerous job it is, and we do everything we can to protect ourselves,” said Hamilton Fire Chief Lyle Moore. “But in the back of our mind it's always there.”

        Local firefighters also spent part of Thursday remembering two of their own. Funerals were held for Lt. Mike McCreary, 33, of the Colerain Township Fire Department, who died of cancer, and Bruce Haskins, 85, a former firefighter with the Groesbeck Fire Department — now Colerain — and former state fire inspector, who died of natural causes.

TO CONTRIBUTE
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        • The Telegram & Gazette news paper has set up a fund to benefit the victims' families:

        • The Firefighter Fund, Flagship Bank, 120 Front St., Worcester, Mass. 01608.

        • The Bravest — WFD (Worcester Fire Department) Children's Fund, c/o Newport Federal Savings Bank, 165 E. Main Road, Middletown, R.I. 02842.

       

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