As the fire spread to the third-floor attic, he became trapped and his air ran out. As a bell tolled achingly slowly atop St. Nicholas R.C. Church, where a service was to begin for Tirado, each firefighter standing outside in lines seven deep knew it could be tolling for them. Filipelli was caught in a third-floor attic flashover and jumped from the window to escape the intense heat already burning his hands, face, and ears. Filipelli watched as a fire engine filled with flowers and another behind it carrying Tirado's casket pulled up to the church. It was that close.
Every firefighter understands close calls.
Ted Glancey, deputy fire chief in Harrison, was there as a brother, too. He also was there because he served as a U.S. Marine with Tirado in the Persian Gulf. A Marine honor guard color detail was there to escort the family and to give Tirado a 16-gun salute at the cemetery. It's a pretty noble profession. So noble that, despite his brush with death and injuries, Filipelli will go on fighting fires.