TOLEDO, Ohio — Anyone in Toledo or northwest Ohio 10 years ago felt the pain of tragedy. Two Toledo firefighters were killed in a fire that was intentionally set on Jan. 26, 2014.
In the years since, family members and fire department leaders have struggled to come to terms with what happened.
"We've had a lot of loss in our family over past ten years. So every time that happens it kind of rips the band-aid open again," Libby Cheney said.
It's still hard for her to believe that her beloved brother, Jamie Dickman, died on Jan.26, 2014.
Fighting a fire at an apartment building on Magnolia Street, Dickman and fellow Toledo firefighter Stephen Machcinski were killed, saddening firefighters, the community, and their families.
The Dickman family has felt the pain ever since.
"He did miss my sister's wedding. My sister got married last year. It was very evident that he wasn't there. But we try to push through and do the best we can with those types of days. Every holiday. Anything. He was always there," Cheney said.
Dickman's daughter is now a teenager, at 13, and his son is 10. Cheney said their mom is doing a great job of raising them.
"As soon as I saw what was going on and heard some of the radio traffic on the way, I knew it wasn't good," said Lou Santiago, Toledo's fire chief on that terrible Sunday in 2014.
He was at a movie at Franklin Park Mall with his wife when he got the phone call. He rushed to the scene.
"It's anybody's worst nightmare. It's not just the chief's worst nightmare, it's the families', it's the fellow firefighters," Santiago said.
"You still find yourself thinking back on that day and becoming sad with it. It's certainly an indicator that, haven't gotten over it. It's been tough," he added.
Toledo's current fire chief, Allison Armstrong, was off that day. So was her husband, who was also a firefighter.
He went into work that day to help a broken department while she stayed home with their son, broken in her own ways.
"And then I live down the street from my classmate who called me. So then we got together just to try and support and console one another. I know a lot of people went to the hospital," Chief Armstrong said.
And now that is has been 10 years since the tragedy, she has mixed emotions.
"Some days I feel like 'oh my gosh' it has been ten years, that's a long time. And then other days, it seems just like yesterday. It's really, really hard for me to describe. I go through a range of emotions when I think about what happened," Armstrong said.
"What's been the toughest is watching the families deal with it as they have, and things have happened to both of those families over time. Steve's mother didn't even make it until the end of the trial. She passed away. And his father passed away not too long ago," Santiago said.
A report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health listed several failures by the Toledo Fire Department, like not getting enough water on the fire soon enough, staffing issues, and not having a safety officer on duty.
In the city of Toledo now, there is always a fire safety officer and other improvements were made.
"We've had increased staffing since then, so more firefighters on rigs. We have tried to implement training to better ourselves so we're better equipped, buy better equipment, better training, more frequent training, better communication," Armstrong said.
"If we don't make these changes, and we don't stay disciplined to them, then it's all for naught, and it's just a slap in the face to Steve and Jamie. So that's what they would want, that's what their families wanted, that this would never happen again," Santiago said.
But Toledo doesn't only remember the tragedy of that day. There's also a community that refused to forget Steve and Jamie.
Plaques and statues went up in their honor, memorial services were held, and the group "Toledo Strong" has been providing food to fire stations every January 26.
There was also the renaming of Interstate 75 near downtown Toledo, so drivers from all over the country can learn of their sacrifice.
"It's breathtaking. It's nice to know that they're not forgotten. And they're all here to honor their fallen," Cheney said.
"It just made me appreciate things more. And then try to take that mindset further as a leader and instill it on other people," Armstrong said.
What happened to the firefighters has also become a big part of training the future Toledo firefighters.
"If anybody's learned anything out of this fire, that's all he would have ever wanted. I know there's been hundreds, if not thousands, of classes, just in reference to this fire. So, if anybody's learned anything and it's saved anybody's lives, that's all he would ever want," Cheney said.
The man who set the fire, Ray Abou Arab, took an Alford Plea to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated arson and was convicted in 2017. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
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