Fallen Frederick County Fire Capt. Joshua Laird will be honored Saturday with a 90-mile ceremonial procession from Washington, D.C., to Taneytown, Maryland.
The procession started around noon at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on East Street SW.
Firefighters saluted as a hearse carrying Laird's body drove near the National Mall and White House, escorted by police vehicles and firetrucks.
The procession route goes through Virginia and Maryland and past the Green Valley Fire Station 25, where Laird was assigned, Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services (FCDFRS) said.
Laird was a member of Frederick County Fire and Rescue for more than 21 years.
Laird was battling a two-alarm blaze in Ijamsville Wednesday and fell through a floor. He was airlifted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center where he died that evening.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
He leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
“The void that he leaves behind will never be filled,” Frederick County Fire Rescue Chief Thomas Coe said.
A second procession will take his body from the Myers-Durboraw Funeral Home to the Monahan Funeral Home in Laird’s former home of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, FCDFRS said. A date has not yet been set.
American flags and Maryland flags will fly at half-staff until sunset the day Laird is buried, Gov. Larry Hogan announced.
