OREGON, Ohio — Friday, Sept. 20 marked two years since brothers Max and Ben Morrissey died in a fire at the former BP-Husky Oil Refinery in Oregon.
Friends, family and union family members gathered at United Steelworkers Local 1-346 union hall Friday to remember the brothers.
While the incident happened two years ago, for some, it feels like just yesterday.
Stefanie Calderone, vice president of the union, works at the oil refinery — since renamed the Cenovus Toledo Refinery under new ownership — and is a part of the fire team.
"It was a tragic day, a day I will always remember personally," Calderone said. "It was my first real fire."
While the fire eventually ended, it took the lives of the Morrissey brothers, leaving behind their wives and kids.
"Max was like a super dad," Max's wife, Darah Morrissey, said in an interview with WTOL 11 last year. "I mean he was there for everything.
WTOL 11 also spoke with Ben's wife, Katie Morrissey, who said she met him at Max and Darah's wedding in Mexico.
In the interviews, the wives talked about how 365 days had passed then. Now, another year has passed.
Since the brothers' deaths, fundraisers for the family including golf outings have been organized and a memorial stone has been placed in front of the union hall to always remember who the Morrisseys were.
"We have to honor them and keep their memory out there at all times," said union president Jim Witt. "We do a lot of things to help the community. We give back much more now realizing there are always people that need assistance."
Witt added that the tragic incident not only changed him as a worker at the refinery, but as a union leader, too.
Witt said the union is working with Calgary, Canada-based Cenovus Energy to establish a "stop work authority."
"That gives the operators and maintenance the ability to stop a job when they feel unsafe," Witt explained. "Which is our biggest prevention, the largest thing we can do to prevent another accident."