Fallen Boston firefighters honored at rehab truck unveiling

The rig was purchased through funds raised by fallen firefighter Michael Kennedy's mother; she said she needed a project to focus her energy on after her son died

Yesterday at 10:02 AM

Boston Globe

BOSTON — While Boston firefighters fought a wind-whipped fire in the Back Bay in March 2014, a group of fire buffs were parked a few blocks away, fighting a battle of their own: keeping ice off their dwindling food and coffee supplies.

Operating out of a discarded ambulance from the 1990s, Boston Sparks Association volunteers worked tirelessly to keep the coffee hot, and the water flowing. Dozens of firefighters filed in and out of the makeshift refuge, exhausted from working on the nine-alarm blaze that claimed the lives of two of their own: Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh Jr. and Firefighter Michael R. Kennedy.

Small things like a hot coffee, a cool towel, or a sugary snack help sustain the energy it takes teams to knock down a blaze, said Tom Leone, a volunteer with the Boston Sparks Association. So when the ice on that March evening threatened to take over their supplies, he said he felt hopeless.