St. Patty's Day Parade 2004

St. Patty's Day in Pittsburgh is always a special event for firefighters. Why?

Firefighters march in several parades, but the history of firefighters in this nation, especially on the East Coast of the Country has very strong an steep heritage in their Irish roots. Firefighters and Police Officers were not jobs that anyone wanted to do, during the potato famine many Irish emigrated to the United States, Police and Fire jobs were the jobs that the Irish found themselves in because of the steady employment, and the danger of these jobs, few wanted to do. In 2004, ironically during the St. Patrick's day parade, a fire broke out in Ebenezer Church, located in the Hill District of the city. A church strong in history in it's own right. Martin Luther King had spoken there, it was a church established back in the early steel mill days. The fire raged for several hours, after attempts to suppress it failed, an initial backdraft in the basement had injured several firefighters in the first few minutes. Two firefighters were killed that day,

March 13, 2004. Battalion Chief Charles Brace and Master firefighter Richard Stefanikus, when the bell tower collapsed, were lost and added to the list of Line of Duty Deaths that are also the history of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire. Several firefighters were injured, and are also not forgotten, many were never able to return to duty to serve the citizens of the city of Pittsburgh. As we celebrate, let these brave firefighters not be forgotten.