Two Toledo firefighters were killed on Sunday while battling an apartment complex fire in North Toledo.
It was the city’s first firefighter fatalities from an active blaze since 1981, Vanessa McCray reports in the Toledo Blade.
Stephen A. Machcinski, 42, a 15-year veteran, and James Dickman, 31, who became a firefighter in September, died of injuries sustained while fighting a fire at 528 Magnolia St.
Privates Machcinski and Dickman were among the firefighters who went into a six-unit apartment building after a blaze was reported at 2:47 p.m. Officials said the victims became disoriented inside the burning structure. Fellow firefighters brought them out while the blaze was raging.
Several fires have been reported at the 137-year-old North Toledo building several times over the past two decades -- including in December, 1996, December, 1998, and September, 2002.
