May 5, 2002 2 min read

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Two firefighters charged into the flaming building to look for another who was lost in the confusion. But while their colleague found his own way out, the two who had tried to rescue him did not. By the time Derek Martin and Rob Morrison – both 38-year-old married fathers – were found in Friday night’s four-alarm fire, it was too late to save them. They died later at a hospital.

“This is a real tragedy,” Fire Chief Sherman George said Saturday, his voice cracking. “Being the chief is like being a father to each of these individuals, and you suffer a great loss.”

The fire broke out about 9:30 p.m. at Gravois Refrigeration Co., a brick, two-story building about two miles south of downtown. The cause was unknown.

On Saturday, bouquets of flowers, a stuffed animal and small American flags had been placed outside the burned-out building as the city mourned the first St. Louis firefighters to die in the line of duty in a quarter-century.

Twenty minutes into the hour-long battle with the blaze, someone turned up missing in a headcount and the two men were sent in to search, said fire department spokeswoman Kim Bacon.

Minutes later, everyone was accounted for but Martin and Morisson.

“There have been citizens calling to see what they can do,” Bacon said. “Some are offering to take up collections for the families.”

Martin and his wife had three children; Morrison was a married father of two.

Investigators on Saturday were trying to pinpoint what sparked the blaze, which began after Gravois Refrigeration had closed for the night.