Visitation for Chicago Firefighter Jermaine Pelt, who died in the line of duty April 4, was held Thursday in suburban Oak Lawn.
Mourners gathered at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. to remember the fallen firefighter. Pelt’s funeral service will be 11 a.m. Friday at House of Hope in Chicago.
Pelt, 49, died battling an extra-alarm fire in the West Pullman neighborhood. He joined the Chicago Fire Department in 2005 and was based on the South Side his entire career, Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said.
Firefighters arrive to pay their respects to firefighter Jermaine Pelt. Colleagues said Pelt was kind and a great firehouse cook.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Pelt was a registered nurse, a paramedic and an instructor at the fire academy. His fellow firefighters remembered him as “the kindest person” at work and a great firehouse cook.
He celebrated a birthday in March and had a son who is 6 years old.
He was one of two Chicago firefighters who died while fighting a blaze last week. Jan Tchoryk, a CFD lieutenant, died a day after Pelt as he helped fight a high-rise blaze in the Gold Coast neighborhood.
Hundreds attended Tchoryk’s funeral service, which was held Thursday at St. Joseph Ukrainian Church in Chicago.
Firefighters arrive at the funeral home for Jermaine Pelt’s wake.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Firefighters and mourners wait outside Bake-Lamb Funeral Home. Jermaine Pelt was one of two Chicago Fire Department members killed in the line of duty last week.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times