Thousands pay tribute to firefighters killed in blaze

One of the victims was the township fire department’s first female captain.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Two firefighters killed when a floor collapsed as they searched for survivors in a burning suburban home shared a passion with comrades from departments in many states who helped fill pews Wednesday at a funeral Mass, a fire chief said in his eulogy.

Like all firefighters, Colerain Township Fire Capt. Robin Broxterman and firefighter Brian Schira had to have a special devotion to their jobs and all people, said Doug Cline, fire chief of the Eden, N.C., fire department.

“Robin and Brian had that ultimate passion of love for everyone, for everyone who came in contact with them,” he said.

Cline closed his remarks by saying simply: “Firefighters — job well done.”

Thousands of people lined the streets for a glimpse of the funeral procession for Broxterman, 37, and Schira, 29, who were trapped in the home’s basement. St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, accommodated about 900 people, a fraction of the number left outside. Several hundred crowded into the undercroft beneath the church to listen to the service.

Colerain and Cincinnati fire department ladder trucks formed an arch near the cathedral for the procession and the firetrucks carrying the two coffins to pass under.

The bells of the cathedral tolled and bagpipers played as the coffins were lowered from the firetrucks and slowly carried inside.

Retired Chief Ernie McCowen of the suburban Lincoln Heights fire department said the show of support was a way to pay tribute to the firefighters and their families.

“It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, we want to come out and show our appreciation that they paid the ultimate sacrifice,” McCowen said.

“We’re a close-knit community, almost fraternal,” he said. “It means a lot with the war going on and the economy for so many people to come from all over the United States and from other countries.”

Tunja Leisure, 36, of Cincinnati, said she saw firetrucks and firefighters congregating near the cathedral and felt she had to stop.

“The tears just instantly came to my eyes, and I was so moved, I just had to come,” she said.

Leisure said she would not go to the funeral.

“I don’t think that’s really my space, but I thought by coming here, I could show how much I appreciate what firemen do every day,” she said.

Luz Medina, 29, of Cincinnati, said she arrived about 8:30 a.m., more than two hours before the procession made its way through downtown under overcast skies.

“There was really nothing I could do other than come here and show my respect for what they are doing,” she said. “They work every day to save our lives.”

After the funeral Mass, the procession returned to Cincinnati’s west side neighborhood to Spring Grove Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, for burial.

“The greatest honor you can have in the world is to show unselfish love for your fellow brothers and sisters,” State Fire Marshal Michael Bell told mourners at the cemetery service. “Today we honor these firefighters for their unselfish love.”

Bells tolled for the firefighters in a tribute to their service, a bugler played taps and the strains of “Amazing Grace” from bagpipers were heard one last time before the public ceremonies ended.

The state fire marshal’s office has ruled that the fire last week started in the basement of the two-story, Colerain Township home where the firefighters’ bodies were found.

The ruling also said the fire was accidental and electrical in nature.

Broxterman was the mother of two daughters and the Colerain Township department’s first female captain. She was engaged to a former Colerain Township firefighter who is now with another township’s fire department.

Schira joined the Colerain department last year after several years with the Delhi Township fire department, also in suburban Cincinnati.

The state fire marshal’s office says the deaths were the first firefighter fatalities this year in Ohio, where five died last year and three in 2006. Nationally, about 100 firefighters a year die in the line of duty, the U.S. Fire Administration says.