Fallen Chicago firefighters remembered in memorial service
Kimberley Skubic, center, remembers her brother, Chicago Firefighter Christopher Wheatley who died in August battling a blaze at Avec restaurant downtown during the Chicago Fire Department Local second annual Memorial Ceremony at Rosehill Cemetery, honoring fallen firefighters today. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
Every year, they come to pay their respect to fellow firefighters who went before them.
Today, the 28th annual memorial service at Rosehill Cemetery was more somber than usual. Firefighters clad in blue uniforms with white gloves and others in black leather and blue jeans paid special tribute to Christopher Wheatley, the first member of the Chicago Fire Department to die battling a blaze in more than a decade.
Wheatley, 31, answered the call to a grease-chute fire at a West Loop restaurant on Aug. 9. He was climbing a fire-escape ladder, weighed down with 40 pounds of gear, when he slipped and fell to his death.
"We just went through this tragedy with Wheatley. It's so new and fresh," said Kenny Taylor, a 22-year department veteran who routinely attends the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local No. 2 memorial service. "It's just about respecting all these guys."
It was Wheatley's lifelong dream to become a firefighter, his family said. With hard work and diligence, he achieved that goal in 2008 after eight years as a paramedic. Wheatley was passionate about fighting fires, and he never hesitated to run into a burning building while others were running out.
"As hard as it is to go through these events, we continue to come to honor our son," his mother, Mary Wheatley, said after the ceremony. "Our family never has to worry about what should have been said. We always knew he loved us, and he always knew we loved him. We said it to each other every day."
--Kristen Mack
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