TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Caskets covered by American flags sat
before a crowd of several thousand as two Toledo firefighters who died
while battling an apartment blaze were praised Thursday for embracing a
profession in which they ran toward danger instead of away from it.
Firefighters
from Ohio and around the nation gathered inside Toledo’s downtown
convention center to celebrate the lives and service of Stephen
Machcinski and James Dickman, who died fighting a blaze inside a
six-unit apartment building on Sunday.
"They deserve, and rightfully so, the title of heroes," said Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins, a
former police officer.
Radio
calls from the scene of the fire indicated that the pair faced rapidly
deteriorating conditions once inside the burning apartment building near
downtown. Firefighters found them inside, carried them out and tried
unsuccessfully to save them.
Investigators have not released a
cause for the fire or details about what led to the deaths. Autopsies
released this week showed that Machcinski and Dickman died from burns
and carbon monoxide.
At the memorial service, U.S. Sen. Sherrod
Brown hailed Machcinski , 42, and Dickman, 31, as men of integrity who
loved their families and took pride in their work.
Machcinski had
been a firefighter for 16 years. Dickman was on the job for six months
and had previously been with the Perkins Township fire department near
Sandusky.
Friends said Dickman joined the Toledo department because it was his dream to work with a big city
department.
A
funeral will be held for Dickman on Friday afternoon in Sandusky. The
funeral for Machcinski will be Saturday morning in Toledo.
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