Thousands of firefighters and law enforcement officers suddenly stood straight and saluted the moment six pallbearers in crisp uniforms and white gloves lifted the casket of firefighter Trevor Brown from the back of a fire engine Monday.
The procession slowly marched the flag-draped coffin past the sea of mourners in blue who came out to honor the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company firefighter who died in a massive explosion Feb. 16 that destroyed a home and injured 14 others in Loudoun County, Va.
About 3,000 people attended the funeral at Leesburg’s Cornerstone Chapel, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and members of the General Assembly and the Loudoun Board of Supervisors. Firefighters and law enforcement officers came from across Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
Brown, 45, is one of 13 firefighters killed in the line of duty in the United States so far this year. The news media was not allowed inside the chapel, but the service was streamed online.
Youngkin spoke first, saying Brown, who is survived by his wife and three children, loved his family, community and country. He enjoyed the outdoors, coaching youth soccer and baseball, and was a “beacon of light.”
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He said Brown was finishing a 12-hour shift on Feb. 16 and was ready to go home to his kids when he got the call about a propane gas leak at a house in the 300 block of Silver Ridge Drive in Sterling. He and his “fellow heroes” responded, Youngkin said.
The governor stood next to Brown’s flag-draped casket, near the center of the altar, and addressed the fallen firefighter’s family: “The words ‘I am so sorry’ seem wholly, wholly inadequate. Your loss is unimaginable.”
David Short, the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company chief, said Brown had a special way of saying goodbye to his children before each shift and always sent them pictures when the firefighters ate at Five Guys because his children, ages 6, 9 and 11, loved to eat there. Short said Brown’s children and godchildren asked him to read a poem to remember him.
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The day you left and gained your wings,
My heart just broke in two.
I wish you could have stayed,
But heaven needed you.
Thomas Brown, the firefighter’s father, said those children are his son’s legacy. Trevor Brown was a stay-at-home dad and former Marine who had a “unique, clever humor which made us laugh uncontrollably at times.” Thomas Brown said his son’s love of humanity was “given freely.”
“Trevor Bryan Brown is our absolute hero,” his father said.
The packed church gave Thomas Brown a long round of applause after he spoke.
The deadly incident began around 7:40 p.m., when a resident of Silver Ridge Drive called 911. “There’s a smell of gas outside,” a man said on a recording of the call.
Firefighters dispatched to the scene found a leaking, 500-gallon underground propane tank at the home next door to the caller. Loudoun County Fire Chief Keith Johnson told the Board of Supervisors in an update last week that propane had seeped into the home.
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Firefighters evacuated the homeowner, her roommate and a number of pets and began investigating the leak when something caused the propane to explode shortly before 8:30 p.m., leveling the home in a massive blast that could be heard across the Potomac River in Montgomery County.
“We just had a catastrophic explosion!” a firefighter shouted into a radio at one point.
A neighbor described the explosion as sounding like a “sonic boom.” He said that it caused the ceiling of the master bedroom of his home to fall on his head and that of his 2-year-old son, and that the bedroom windows shattered inward, spraying his wife with glass.
The blast caused a blaze and rained insulation, clothing and other debris down on surrounding trees. Two firefighters trapped by wreckage sent out desperate maydays by radio.
Brown, who was outside the home, was killed in the explosion, and a number of other firefighters were injured, Johnson said. The crews on scene called for backup and began a rescue operation to find the firefighters trapped in the basement of the home. By 9:15 p.m., the trapped firefighters had been rescued and the others accounted for.
“I don’t believe we have any statistics on the survival rate of firefighters calling mayday that are trapped, but I can tell you now it’s not very high,” Johnson told the supervisors last week.
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The injured included 11 firefighters, a sheriff’s deputy and two civilians. One firefighter, who was trapped in the basement, remains hospitalized in a burn unit, but the others have been treated and released.
The investigation into the explosion continues. Laura Rinehart, a spokeswoman for the Loudoun fire department, said Monday that the fire marshal’s office has wrapped up work at the scene but is still trying to determine what sparked the blast.
Rinehart said Johnson is scheduled to meet this week with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as part of an independent probe of how firefighters handled the response to the blast. The effort, which is expected to take months, is being led by the fire chief of Frederick County, Md.
An initial estimate of property damage caused by the explosion is $2.5 million. Loudoun fire officials said six homes were damaged, including three that are no longer inhabitable.
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Monday’s funeral ended with firefighters removing the U.S. flag from Brown’s coffin and presenting it to his relatives. Firefighters then delivered three teddy bears to Brown’s children, and Youngkin got on one knee to give the family a Virginia flag framed in a wooden box.
Then, as thousands silently watched, a firefighter rang a bell nine times. Each peal echoed in the hushed chapel, signaling the end of Brown’s watch.
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