Crime & Safety

Saturday Event Commemorates Fallen Firefighters

Ceremony is at 9:30 a.m. Saturday Fallen Firefighters Memorial Wall at 2945 Treat Blvd. in Concord.

Bay City News Service

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District will honor 16 of the district's firefighters who have lost their lives on the job over the past four decades in a remembrance ceremony in Concord Saturday.

The ceremony marks the fifth anniversary of the deaths of Capt.
Matt Burton, 34, and Fire Engineer Scott Desmond, 37, in a house fire on
Michele Drive in unincorporated San Pablo, said Fire Marshal Lewis Broschard.

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Burton and Desmond were searching the home for two elderly residents when they were killed in a "flashover," in which the heat became so intense that the room the pair was in suddenly burst into flames, according to fire officials. The home's residents, a 62-year-old woman and 67-year-old man, also perished in the fire.

Saturday's ceremony will honor the bravery of those two firefighters as well as the 14 others whose names are engraved on the memorial wall at a fire district training center in Concord.

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"Those individuals identified on our memorial wall were committed to serving our citizens unselfishly and ultimately they gave their lives to the pursuit of public safety for their community," Broschard said in a statement.

The ceremony will also feature the Contra Costa County Professional Firefighters Local 1230 Honor Guard.

The ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the fire district's Fallen Firefighters Memorial Wall located at the training facility at 2945 Treat Blvd. in Concord.


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