Maine Gov. Janet Mills has ordered flags lowered to half-staff to honor a firefighter killed while battling an apartment blaze.
Flags will remained lowered through sunset Sunday, the day of Berwick Fire Capt. Joel Barnes' funeral. A private mass and a public memorial ceremony will be held at Cross Insurance Arena.
The 32-year-old Barnes died and four other firefighters were injured in Berwick on Friday. He became the first firefighter to die while battling a fire in nearly four decades in Maine.
Maine Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said the last time a firefighter was killed in a fire was in 1980, when Portland firefighter Joseph Cavallaro Jr. died while battling a nightclub fire.
Berwick Fire Chief Dennis Plante previously said that Barnes protected a fellow firefighter from the flames and "died a hero."
