WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — With church bells pealing throughout the city, fire officials on Sunday placed wreaths on the lot where six firefighters died a year earlier after rushing into a burning warehouse to search for homeless people.
It had been the nation's worst loss of life among firefighters from a building fire in more than 20 years.
At 6:13 p.m. Sunday, the precise time the first alarm was struck on Dec. 3, 1999, the names of the six firefighters were read out as hundreds of people listened in silence. Family members of the victims attended the ceremony, but few words were spoken.
"The year is up and everybody's tired," Fire Chief Gerard Dio said afterward. "We want to get on with our lives. We'll never forget these guys. They'll always be in the back of our minds, but we have a job to do."