Biden to families of firefighters: 'Our hearts go out to you'

• Lt. Christopher Leach and Senior Firefighter Jerry Fickes died in a Canby Park rowhouse fire.
• Services were held Friday for the two firefighters.
• The program for the memorial Saturday was "Our fallen brothers: A celebration of life."

Great silver and gold bells tolled somberly as thousands stood utterly silent.

The crackle of a fire department radio reverberated through the auditorium of the Chase Center on the Riverfront.

"Captain Christopher Leach." Lieutenant Jerry Fickes," the dispatcher intoned, as hundreds of firefighters in full dress uniform stood with their arms raised, saluting.

"Rest in peace, brothers."

It was their final alarm.

Thousands of Delawareans came to pay their respects to Leach, 41, and Fickes, 51, who died in the line of duty last weekend while battling a blaze in the Canby Park section of Wilmington. They were joined by hundreds of firefighters from all over North America – there were companies from New Hampshire, California, Washington state and Winnipeg, Canada, to name a few.

"It means more than you can ever know that you have come into our dark night," said Brad Martin, Wilmington Fire Department chaplain.

The families of Leach and Fickes were treated reverently. They walked past lines of cadets standing at attention, and each of the speakers paused to address them personally.

Vice President Joe Biden told them he and his wife Jill knew the pain they were going through, referencing the "black hole in your chest" he felt when his son, Beau, died last year.

"Jill and I know there's not a damn thing anybody can say," Biden said. "We hope you, as we did, gain some solace from the fact that so many people, so many people understood, appreciate, knew, admired and absolutely are in awe of what your son, your dad, your brother, your husband did."

Leach and Fickes were killed when the floor collapsed in the rowhouse and they were trapped in the basement.

Beatriz Fana-Ruiz, 27, has been accused of setting the fire and faces charges of murder, arson, assault and reckless endangerment. Ruiz, who lived in the townhouse, told investigators she was drunk and on anxiety medication when she started the fire, according to court records.

Two other firefighters, Ardythe Hope and Brad Speakman, remain hospitalized.

Saturday's two-and-a-half-hour ceremony was laden with sadness, but it also soared with moments of pride.

It opened with row upon row of flags and musicians parading through the aisles.

A lone bagpiper mourned Amazing Grace -- then dozens more roared in answer, and the drums thundered victoriously.

Cranston Heights Firefighter Curtis Allen said the scope of the ceremony was appropriate for the loss Delaware suffered. In remembering the deaths of Leach and Fickes, he said those in attendance exemplified the unity which is a constant.

“It was moving,” Allen said. “It’s a brotherhood. Everyone comes together and everybody knows everybody. We’re a small group, but when it comes to it everyone comes together as a family and takes care of what they have to take care of. Everybody in this network are brothers and sisters, and we treat them as such.”

Wilmington Fire Chief Anthony Goode, whose father, fire Lt. James Goode Jr., died of a heart attack at a city fire station, said he has struggled all week to come up with words that would be "elegant enough or strong enough to capture my feelings." He settled on three.

"We love you," He said. "We will be forever grateful for the sacrifices that Christopher and Jerry and their families have made for us."

Goode posthumously promoted Leach, previously a lieutenant, to Captain and Fickes, previously a senior firefighter, to lieutenant, and awarded both men the department's Medal of Honor. The auditorium sat silent, riveted, as he presented the new rank badges and medals to the men's family.

It was one of many moments in which total quiet was broken only by sniffling in the audience. Another came when Senators Chris Coons and Tom Carper presented the families with American flags that flew over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

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"We realize there is little that any of us can say or do to make up for the loss of the men you love," Carper said. "But we want you to know that you are not alone, that we will shelter you with our love, with our kindness and with our prayers."

Coons told the families: "As you cope with this loss, I hope that you know that not just Wilmington is with you, not just the state of Delaware is with you, but our entire nation is with you."

Many of the speakers said the two men's sacrifice showed how courageous and important firefighters are.

"I visited the scene with the chief, and all I could think was 'What incredible courage it took for all of them to step through that door,'" Biden said.
Echoed Coons, "Whatever might possibly be wrong with America, I am convinced it can be fixed with what's best in America. And your sons represent what is best in America."

Following the service, Houston, Texas, firefighter Marty Lancton reflected on the idea expressed by the vice president that firefighters have the nation’s most unappreciated job.

Lancton traveled a great distance to show, at the very least, such losses are fully appreciated within the ranks.

“What moved me is seeing not just everyone from across the country but seeing Vice President Biden, seeing everybody come together to support the family. It’s pretty amazing,” Lancton said. “It’s always amazing to me to see how departments across the country take care of their own. I have been extremely impressed at the levels to which they’ve taken care of the families.”

“Our department, we had a double line-of-duty death in 2013,” said Gerald Burnett, a fire inspector from Bryan, Texas. “It really made a big difference when so many people came, stepped forward to help us. A lot of folks from this region helped us. It was a priority. Our fire chief puts a high priority on it.”

Burnett and others from his department traveled by air to attend the ceremony. Those plans, he said, were in the works almost from the moment the news reached the Lone Star State. Having known personally the men lost in 2013, Burnett said there was no question of his attendance Saturday.

Craig Durgin knew Leach and considered him a friend.

Leach, an Eagle Scout, served as an assistant Scout Master for Troop 67 Aldersgate Church. Durgin and a handful of members attended Saturday’s service.

“Being brave and loyal are in the Scout motto,” Durgin said. “As an Eagle Scout, I think he kept that as a firefighter. I took away from this a lot of people respect firefighters and the people who do things like what he’s done for his community.”

The "Last Alarm" ceremony for fallen colleagues has developed over more than a century.

“It’s an amazing show of solidarity in the fire service. It shows how close the brotherhood is among firefighters,” said Paul Johnson of the Delaware City Fire Department. “It’s certainly not a routine or regular thing. It’s new to all of us and very unfortunate.”

There was no question in that long line of firefighters that the loss of two professionals was a blow to morale, but it would leave the city’s citizens no less protected than the day before the tragedy.

The enormous and diverse presence of first responders at Saturday’s ceremony served a twofold purpose, firefighters said. They were there to honor the fallen, but just as importantly to remind the families who’ve lost members they aren’t alone.

“We just, unfortunately, had a line-of-duty death. We know what they’re going through and we’re just here to support them,” said Capt. Clifford Gilliam from the Philadelphia Fire Department. “For them to pull up and see a line of firefighters as long as they can see lets them know their loved ones were part of another family, and they are truly missed.”

Line-of-duty deaths haunt first responders, whether they’ve experienced them as closely as Wilmington or as infrequently as has the Annapolis, Maryland, Fire Department. Annapolis Battalion Chief Tim McDowell said his team hasn’t felt such a loss personally but are always prepared and reverent when it happens to comrades.

“The brotherhood is solid in the fire department,” McDowell said, “Unfortunately, we go to a lot of funerals."

“It’s a sad thing,” said Linda Eklund, of Newark, who came with a daughter and granddaughter to the Chase Center where they stood outside and watched the firefighters pass below a great U.S. flag draped between fire ladders. “It made me cry. It’s just sad. It’s just unnecessary that it happened.”

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.