(NECN) – The investigation into the cause of a Boston Back Bay brownstone fire that killed two firemen continued Thursday.
Ed Kelly, president of Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, and Richie Paris, president of Boston Fire Fighters IAFF Local 718 joined Jim Braude to discuss the loss.
Kelly and Paris remember the fallen, Firefighter Michael Kennedy and Lieutenant Ed Walsh, as great men.
Kelly began by talking about his experience telling Lt. Walsh’s wife and young son about the loss.
“We talked to her outside and she wanted to go in and handle her children which was the right thing to do and she went in and told her eight-year-old son what had happened,” Kelly said. “And I got to meet the little guy and he was so brave, just like his dad.”
In addition, Paris told Kennedy’s mother the troubling news.
“It was pretty tough,” Paris said. “Those two guys saved people’s lives yesterday and I told her that. She was in shock.”
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Divisions of Boston’s Fire Department, Engine 33 and Ladder 15, are some of the busiest and most active stations. Paris says the men that work not only want to fight fires, but to help people.
“Our guys are ready to run in. They’re putting their lives on the line, but as a deputy of the fire building, he has one, possibly two guys killed already. He doesn’t want 20 more,” Paris explained when asked about the decision the deputy fire chief made to not allow any additional men to go into the blaze after Kennedy and Lt. Walsh.
The investigation into the fire is still on-going, but Kelly said that they can theorize that the water hose may have been burned through.
“It was a wind-driven fire off the Charles. I think 50 mile an hour sustained winds,” Kelly explained. “We can theorize it became an absolute wind tunnel for that fire to push up the stairs where the hose came down.”
The Lt. Walsh and Firefighter Kennedy Memorial Fund has been established to help the families. You can learn more here.
