By Greg Lacour
The Charlotte Observer
Copyright 2008 The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Firefighters call it “returning to quarters.”
Victor Isler and Justin Monroe made the trip Monday. Starting in uptown Charlotte, they traveled up Interstate 85 to Salisbury, where they had served as firefighters.
The procession bearing their bodies paused in front of the central fire station on East Innes Street in Salisbury. Then to the square downtown, where people wearing red ribbons stood three-deep along the sidewalks. Then to the funeral home.
Isler, 40, and Monroe, 19, killed in a woodworking plant fire Friday, will be buried this week. Monday was a day for their colleagues and the public to show their respects.
And they did, from the medical examiner’s office in Charlotte to the funeral home not far from where the two died.
Once the line of at least 50 vehicles entered Cabarrus County, it was greeted by one engine after another, perched on overpasses. They were from departments in Concord, Kannapolis and other towns in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, ladders extended and flags hung halfway up.
“It’s the brotherhood,” said Rebecca Klingerman, who took time off from her job at Kings College to catch the beginning; her husband, Kyle, is a Charlotte firefighter. “If you’re in the fire service, whether you’re a wife, girlfriend, husband, whatever, it’s just like an amazing family.”
The gathering at the medical examiner’s office was sparse. But crowds grew thicker on the way to Salisbury. By 6 p.m., when it began rolling up East Innes toward the square at Main Street, hundreds lined the street near the central fire station.
There, firefighter Travis Ketchie and his friend, taxidermist Chet Hedrick, waited for the trucks. Both were friends of Justin Monroe.
On Thursday, the three had made plans: Hey, let’s go fishing at High Rock Lake tomorrow. At first, Monroe was thrilled. Then he remembered he had to work. It’s OK, his friends said. We can go Monday.
That conversation was their last with Monroe.
“It’s kind of a tough pill to swallow,” Ketchie said. “Waking up this morning and realizing you have to do this instead of going fishing with him.”
But that’s the risk, as anyone knows who’s a friend or family member of a firefighter.
The Klingermans have talked about it. She knew what she was getting into when they married. Before then, even. When they began dating at East Gaston High, Kyle told Rebecca he was going to be a Charlotte firefighter.
“Every day, when he leaves for work, we always tell each other we love each other and kiss, because you never know what his shift is going to bring,” she said. “But I respect him. I respect the job. It was his dream to be a fireman. You just have to be strong.”
A joint funeral for the firefighters will be at 2 p.m. Thursday in Salisbury in the chapel at Catawba College, 2300 W. Innes Street. Visitation for Isler is Wednesday 1 to 4 p.m. at Lyerly’s Funeral Home, 515 S. Main St., Salisbury. Visitation for Monroe is Wednesday 6-9 p.m. at Miller’s Ferry Fire Department, 2650 Long Ferry Road, Salisbury.