Memorial planned to mark decade since West Webster fire, shootings
Ten years after a gunman set fire to his Webster home and fatally shot two firefighters as they arrived to douse the flames, the West Webster Fire Department is holding a multi-day memorial.
Michael Chiapperini, 43, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, were killed in the pre-dawn hours on Christmas Eve in 2012, as they stepped out of their fire truck on Lake Road, an otherwise quiet neighborhood along the Lake Ontario shoreline.
This year, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Christmas Eve tragedy, the West Webster Fire Department will open a "remembrance room" at Station 1, 1051 Gravel Road, to give community members, first responders and others the opportunity to honor the two men. The room will feature photos, videos and other items remembering Chiapperini and Koczowka.
The room will be open to first responders only from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22; and to the general public from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 23 and from 7 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 24. At 6:45 a.m. on Christmas Eve, a memorial prayer will take place at the department's firehouse memorial, located behind the Gravel Road fire station. Attendees are asked to park behind the fire house.
The purpose of the remembrance "is to commemorate and educate our members and the public as to the events that occurred that day and to the assistance we received during that week," department spokesman Al Sienkiewicz said.
Two other West Webster firefighters who died in the line of duty will also be honored in the remembrance room: David Clapp, who died in 1986, and William Bostian, who died in 2005.
A memorial now stands near the spot where Chiapperini and Koczowka died in 2012, just one of several visible reminders of that tragic morning. Empty lots coupled with newly built houses mark the spots where seven homes were destroyed in the fire.
Each year on Christmas Eve, before the sun rises, friends and family members join with neighbors and others to mark the occasion and to remember the two men killed as they were serving their community. Fire officials do not publicize the pre-dawn memorial due to safety concerns, and this year in particular parking will be even more limited due construction along the road near Sandbar Park.
What happened on Lake Road on Dec. 24, 2012?
The shootings unfolded in the early morning hours of Dec. 24, 2012, as volunteers from the West Webster fire department responded to the report of a fire on Lake Road.
Chiapperini and Kaczowka were shot as they stepped out of their fire truck. Both men died at the scene.
Two others, Joseph Hostetter and Ted Scardino, were seriously injured, but survived. Greece police Officer Jon Ritter, who was driving behind them on his way to work, was struck by debris after gunshots targeted his car.
Firefighters from across the region watched helplessly while the fires burned unchecked for hours, as they waited for police to find the shooter and bring the attack to an end.
Investigators later determined that 62-year-old William Spengler had set his house and vehicle ablaze and waited to ambush emergency responders. Spengler’s 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler, was also killed. Spengler eventually took his own life not far from where the shooting began.
Investigators concluded that Dawn Nguyen, a former neighbor of Spengler's, bought a shotgun and assault rifle for him at a Gander Mountain store in Henrietta. Spengler was barred from doing so as a convicted felon. He had previously been imprisoned for killing his grandmother.
Nguyen, now 34, was convicted in both state and federal courts for her purchase of the guns and served her state and federal sentences, both eight years, which ran concurrently. She was released from federal custody last year.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Memorial planned to mark decade since West Webster fire, shootings
