CT PHOTOS/E.L. HUBBARD

Family members of Firefighter Brian Schira and of Capt. Robin Broxterman cross the aisle of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral to join hands in prayer during the April 9 Mass of Christian Burial for the two Colerain Township firefighters. During the funeral, a Delhi Township firefighter,

Clutches a flag used to cover one of the caskets. The flag was removed for the funeral service and draped back onto the casket for the ride to the cemetery.

‘Believe and trust that they were not alone’

Firefighters from other communities and nations join Cincinnati in mourning two Colerain firefighters

By David Eck

ARCHDIOCESE — Finding the right words to console the thousands of firefighters gathered at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral for the funeral Mass of two of their own April 9 was the daunting task that faced Father James Bramlage, pastor of Cincinnati’s cathedral. So he turned to the lives and example of the two firefighters to do it.

"The greatest tragedy of all would be not having anything to look forward to, for ourselves or for those we love, beyond the life we know here and now," Father Bramlage said. "That would leave us in the darkest, deepest throes of grief and meaninglessness in the face of tragic deaths like Robin’s and Brian’s."

"Yes, they left behind the limited existence of earthly life, the way we knew them," he said. "But they exchanged that limited existence for an eternal one. They left behind a house that was being destroyed by flames to enter a house that is eternal, a house that can never be destroyed."

"In the darkness of that smoke-filled and air-starved basement, I ask you to believe and to trust that they were not alone," Father Bramlage told the congregation, which spilled out into the streets, occupied the cathedral undercroft and even watched on large screens set up in Fountain Square two blocks away. "The Lord of life who promised us that He is the way led them out."

The two firefighters died together in the basement of a burning Colerain Township home on April 4 when flooring gave way on the first floor and plunged them into the basement inferno.

They were remembered as fun-loving individuals who were intensely dedicated to their families and to their work. Broxterman, the mother of two young daughters, was a 17-year veteran of the Colerain Township department, its first female captain, and was engaged to be married to a Green Township firefighter.

Schira, a 1997 graduate of LaSalle High School, worked part-time for both the Colerain and Delhi township fire departments.

The job was in Broxterman’s blood; her mother, Arlene Zang, is a retired firefighter and emergency medical services instructor.

The streets were lined with citizens who turned out to offer thoughts and prayers as a Delhi and a Colerain firetruck, each carrying a flag-draped casket, made their way from Colerain Township’s municipal headquarters to the downtown cathedral. More than 7,000 firefighters from all over the city and state, as well as from Maine to California and as far away as Wales and Australia, lined the streets surrounding the cathedral and saluted as the caskets were borne from the trucks into the church to the mournful sounds of bagpipes.

The nearly two-hour Mass was broadcast on local networks and at the Fire Department Instructors’ Conference in Indianapolis.

At the front of the church, close to Broxterman’s casket, was a floral arrangement that featured a firefighter’s helmet and her badge number, 108. An arrangement in front of Schira’s casket included 205, his badge number. Both numbers have now been retired.

Toward the end of the Mass, memories of the two firefighters were offered by those who knew them well.

Glendale Fire Chief Michael Finney recalled Broxterman’s passion for the fire service.

"It’s a passion we first have when we all first get into the fire service," he said. "For many, it’s a passion that subsides, a passion that often finds itself buried in the routine activities and constant politics. But Robin never lost that passion. . . . You could see it in her smile, in her eyes and in the way she talked about her time at the department or in the classroom."

He also offered comfort to the Colerain Township firefighters, particularly those who were at the fatal fire.

"As I sat and listened to the radio transmissions, the news footage, one thing kept coming to mind: How incredibly well you handled something that all of us fear will occur," he said. "Sometimes, no matter what you do, things go wrong, and there is nothing you can do about it."

Paul Markgraf, a friend of the Schira family, told of Brian Schira’s love of sports and how he played on a softball team with his brothers, as well as on LaSalle’s freshman football team. Schira also taught himself how to play guitar.

"He will forever remain our shining light," Markgraf said.

After the Mass, the caskets were slowly moved onto the engines. Broxterman’s casket was placed on Colerain Engine 102 — the truck on which she and Schira responded to the fatal fire — and Schira’s was placed on Delhi Engine 30. Firefighting gear belonging to the two was strapped onto the front bumpers. More than 100 fire vehicles were part of the procession to Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery.

They were the first firefighters to die on duty in Ohio this year and the first line-of-duty firefighter deaths in Colerain Township since the mid-1970s.

Connie Hughett, who grew up in Colerain and knew Broxterman, was among those who watched the funeral outside the cathedral.

"Her heart was in her job," Hughett said. "Being as close as Colerain is, it’s hard not to get to know somebody. The community as a whole — they are brokenhearted over it."

Firefighters take the caskets of their fallen comrades from the fire trucks at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains for the funeral.