The Orlando Fire Department will hold a remembrance ceremony Thursday, December 2, 2010, at 2pm, honoring Assistant Chief Calvin Bookhardt at Orlando Firehouse 1, 78 West Central Boulevard, Orlando.
On December 2, 1972, at approximately midnight, a call went out for a structure fire at 52 West Central Boulevard. Orlando Fire Department Units arrived on the scene and began what would be a three hour battle before the fire was extinguished. Assistant Chief Bookhardt, a 20-year Orlando Fire Department veteran, was positioned on the roof directing operations when the west wall of the building began to collapse. Assistant Chief Bookhardt tried to escape but he did not make it. The Downtown Orlando fire also injured 12 other firemen with four of them being hospitalized.
Members of Chief Bookhardt’s family will join the Orlando Fire Department to honor his memory.
On December 2, 1972, at approximately midnight, a call went out for a structure fire at 52 West Central Boulevard. Orlando Fire Department Units arrived on the scene and began what would be a three hour battle before the fire was extinguished. Assistant Chief Bookhardt, a 20-year Orlando Fire Department veteran, was positioned on the roof directing operations when the west wall of the building began to collapse. Assistant Chief Bookhardt tried to escape but he did not make it. The Downtown Orlando fire also injured 12 other firemen with four of them being hospitalized.
Members of Chief Bookhardt’s family will join the Orlando Fire Department to honor his memory.