Montgomery prays for injured firefighters after blaze claims two lives
The fire truck's ladder stretched to the sky outside city hall on Monday morning. A huge American flag flew from its top.
Inside, the community gathered to pray for the five Montgomery firefighters who were injured in the May 14 fire as well as the two people who died following the tragedy.
The fire started in a trash can at a home on Gilmer Avenue, leading to a flashover that trapped firefighters inside. The department's rapid intervention team rescued the firefighters from the home as well as a man and a child. But the child died the following day, and the man succumbed to his injuries a day later.
Five faith leaders offered prayers for the two victims and celebrated the heroism of firefighters Deandre Hartman, James Christian, Adarius Wesley, Capt. Donald L. Crenshaw Jr. and Sgt. David O. Watson III.
Hartman remains in critical condition in UAB Hospital. Medical personnel flew Crenshaw back to Montgomery on May 31. Since then, Crenshaw has recovered at home as has Christian and Wesley.
Watson has been able to return to work at his fire station.
Mayor Steven Reed opened the program by addressing how firefighters risk everything each time a 911 call comes in.
“It’s going to be up to us to remember them and their families even after the headlines are gone," Reed said.
Reed said he believes in the power of collective prayer and the change that it can bring. He said he hopes to educate people about the danger of fire within homes.
Each speaker prayed for healing for the firefighters.
More: Injured Firefighters 60-second read: About the five firefighters injured in Sunday's fatal house fire
“I know that with you all things are possible in Jesus Christ's name, amen," Fire Chief Miford Jordan said.
Joey Addie, the chief of staff for the fire department, quoted John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
Addie noted this sacrifice as the pain that each of the firefighters went through both from their injuries but also from the pain of not being able to save the two people who died after the fire.
"Forty years, I still think about the ones I couldn't save," Addie said.
This is the first time in his 40-year career that Addie has seen the community reach out and support the fire department to this level, he said. “The community have been wonderful," Jordan said. "They have reached out in every fashion."
People can donate money to the firefighters through the Montgomery Alabama Fire Rescue Foundation that the Central Alabama Community Foundation has organized, said Burton Crenshaw, the president of the organization.
People can donate by going to the Central Alabama Community Foundation's website.
Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or on Twitter @gladlyalex.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery prays for injured firefighters after blaze claims two lives
