Posted on 02/16/2013 5:46:34 PM PST by Zakeet
Two Texas fire lieutenants have died of burns after battling a lodge hall fire, a city official said Saturday.
Greg Pickard and Eric Wallace, both with the department in the Central Texas city of Bryan, were in a group of firefighters responding to the blaze about midnight Friday at a Knights of Columbus hall, city spokeswoman Mary Lynne Stratta said.
The team entered the burning building but didn't emerge when ordered to evacuate, Stratta said.
Wallace, 36, died at the scene and Pickard, 54, on Saturday at a hospital in Galveston, she said.
"He called for help, said he was low on air," Stratta said of Wallace, a 13-year Bryan Fire Department veteran.
With Wallace still inside, Pickard and two other firefighters — Ricky Mantey Jr. and Mitchel Moran — were sent in to rescue him when the roof collapsed in flames, Fire Chief Randy McGregor said.
Rapid response units found the men inside the building. Mantey, 30, and Moran, 21, also were injured. They were taken to the Galveston hospital with burns. On Saturday, Stratta said they were both in serious but stable condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.com ...
Arson?
Brave men protecting all of us. RIP
Eric Wallace
The remains of the Knights of Columbus building from the rear of the property.
Looking at the Knights of Columbus building from Palasota Street.
I suppose it could have been, particularly since the K of C is unpopular with both the pro-abortion and the pro-gay crowd. It was midnight and there weren’t any activities going on. Of course, it could simply have been that somebody left the stove on or dropped a cigarette.
Very sad, in any case.
Greg Pickard
There aren’t a whole lot of pro-abort, pro-gay crowds in Bryan.
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Eternal rest Heroes.
What time do the bars close in Bryan?
if they know for as fact that there is noone inside the building, why go in??? I have read aboud abandoned warehouses burning and firefighters killed when the roof collapsed....If there is noone inside, keep the fire from spreading and put it out from the outside....
Horrible, but it will be interesting to find more information out. Typically, you only hear of firemen getting injured, much less killed, when they are trying to save lives. If they don’t think anyone is in the building, they will lay back and take it on from the outside. This is an odd case, and tragic too, especially for a town of that size.
May Greg Pickard and Eric Wallace RIP.
Closer memories on this one: I lost my brother after a brush fire he was fighting with the Medina VFD, but have not been at the Bryan KofC Hall for many years. (I’m now at a Marietta KofC in GA.)
When I was a kid, downtown Defuniak Springs caught on fire and the local volunteers couldn’t put it out. All the had was a 1928 LaFrance.
They called Eglin AFB and they came and put it out almost immediately. I am not sure if it was the better trained fire fighters or the better equipment which made the difference.
God bless these brave men and their families. So sad.
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