TOLEDO, Ohio – A fire in a Toledo apartment complex that left two firefighters dead will be thoroughly investigators, the fire chief says.
Gov. John Kasich has ordered U.S. and Ohio flags be flown at half-staff at state buildings and grounds in Lucas County Monday to honor Stephen Machcinski, 42, and James Dickman, 31, who died while battling a blaze in a six-unit apartment building near downtown Toledo Sunday afternoon.
Toledo Fire Department Chief Luis Santiago said Machcinski had served on the force for 16 years, while Dickman had been on the job only six months.
A Lucas County deputy coroner told The Blade in Toledo that autopsies were scheduled for Machinski and Dickman Monday.
The firefighters may have become disoriented inside the burning building and Santiago says fellow firefighters made “valiant efforts” to save the men and began lifesaving measures after they were taken from the structure.
The firefighters were taken to Mercy St .Vincent Medical Center, where a large crowd of Toledo Fire Department personnel gathered.
The newspaper says the last time a Toledo firefighter was killed in an active blaze was 1981.