Norton Honors Fallen D.C. Firefighter, Lt. Kevin McRae, at Funeral Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 18, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), the granddaughter of a District of Columbia firefighter, Lt. Richard Holmes, today spoke at the funeral service of D.C. firefighter Lt. Kevin McRae, a 25-year-veteran of the DC Fire and EMS Department (DCFEMS), who tragically died in the line of duty while battling a fire in a 7th Street NW apartment building in the Shaw neighborhood on May 6. Family, friends, public officials, residents, and DCFEMS members, including his fellow Engine 6 firefighters, gathered at the D.C. Armory to pay their respects to Lt. McRae and honor his heroic service. Norton was particularly impressed that Lt. McRae, whom she called “a son of the city,” first joined DCFEMS in 1989 after serving in the cadet academy at Ballou High School, which recruits and trains D.C. residents to become D.C. firefighters.

“If you are a firefighter, public service takes on a unique and elevated meaning,” Norton said in her remarks. “For a firefighter, public service means facing risk, facing danger. That risk, that danger, is not only your risk and danger. The firefighter’s family, too, lives with that risk and danger. The McRae family will forever stand out in the District of Columbia for the loss of our 99th firefighter in the line of duty, James J. McRae, Lt. McRae’s cousin, and our 100th, Lt. Kevin McRae himself….The McRae family today has the love and condolences of the District of Columbia, and especially the family of Lt. Richard Holmes.”