Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Memorial Held to Honor Three Members of IAFF Who Perished in the Line of Duty

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Members of the Fire Fighters (IAFF), family and friends filled the Baltimore Convention Center on Wednesday to honor the lives of three Baltimore City Fire Department firefighters—Lts. Paul Butrim and Kelsey Sadler and firefighter and paramedic Kenneth Lacayo—in a moving memorial service. These members of IAFF locals 964 and 734 were killed in the line of duty on Jan. 24 while heroically putting out a fire inside a burning row house. A fourth EMT/firefighter who was trapped, Local 734 member John McMaster, was released after being hospitalized in critical condition.

“Our brothers and sisters responded and they did what fire fighters do—they went inside to put down the fire and save lives. As fire fighters, we know the risks, but it is still shocking when those risks become a reality,” IAFF General President Edward Kelly said at the memorial service. “While I did not have the honor of meeting Butrim, Sadler and Lacayo, they are my brothers and my sister. They are my family. We must always remember their sacrifice.”