Daywatch: Chicago firefighter who died weeks after blaze remembered

Good morning, Chicago.

A Chicago Fire Department firefighter seriously injured while responding to a Norwood Park residential fire earlier this month died late Monday night, the Fire Department said.

Lt. Kevin Ward, 59, died at Loyola Medical Center surrounded by family, the department said. He served with the department for 27 years.

Going on 60 years old, Ward was still the “biggest, strongest, fastest guy on the team,” said his friend Vincent Kiernan. “He was like Superman.”

A procession of fire and police vehicles carried Ward’s body from the hospital in Maywood to the Cook County medical examiner’s office yesterday. Four helicopters hovered above as the motorcade moved city-bound on Roosevelt Road, drifting east until the vehicles arrived at the medical examiner’s office.

Read the full story and see photos from the Tribune’s Jake Sheridan, Eileen T. Meslar and Trent Sprague.

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