PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Balloons were released and flowers were laid Thursday at East Mount Airy’s Chelten Hills Cemetery, as people honored the 12 lives lost in a fire in Fairmount last year.
Family and friends of the three adults and nine children who died in the fire on Jan. 5, 2022, stood side by side at the ceremony as the new headstone with pictures of the victims was unveiled.
Through donations from local businesses, the Lee Monument Company was able to inscribe the gravestone marker with the words, “A family that prays together, stays together.”
Howard Robinson, who spoke for the family, said Thursday’s ceremony was a very special moment for the family members, friends, and loved ones of the victims.
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“This whole year has just been so crazy without them,” Robinson said.
“There's been times I can't sleep at night just thinking about them, how much I miss them…I always look at their pictures every day and think about them.”
Members of the Philadelphia Fire Department and elected officials like Mayor Jim Kenney attended the solemn ceremony.
Mayor Jim Kenney reflected on the fire as one of the saddest days ever in Philadelphia.
“It's still sad today as we stand here and bring to mind those that were lost,” Kenney said.
Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said he, and other members of the department, think about the family daily.
“The firefighters who were there, our staff who was there,” Thiel said.
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“We so wish that there would have been a different outcome. And we are going to continue to work 24/7 [year-round] in their memory, in their honor, to try to prevent other families to have to go through what you've gone through over the past year and what you continue to go through.”
Thiel said the department will never forget the tragedy.
“This monument is important. This commemoration is important for you, for our city.”
The fire was one of the deadliest fires in Philadelphia in more than 100 years.