Memorial mural at Whitechapel Fire Station
Photo: BBC
On July 20, 2004, Whitechapel station firefighters Bill Faust and Adam Meere died in the line of duty.
Faust, 36, and Meere, 27, were fatally injured at an eight-pump fire on Bethnal Green Road in East London and succumbed at a hospital.
Meere had joined the brigade a few months earlier and finished his training in May.
The fire in the three-story commercial structure was reported at 4 a.m, according to a BBC report. The men, both wearing breathing apparatus, ran into trouble in the lower part of the building.
The deaths were the first since a firefighter died in Willesden in north London in 1993.
London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Kelly, quoted by the BBC, said firefighters reported a serious fire upon arrival in a clothing shop and its basement with smoke pouring from windows.
There were apartments on the upper level.
Two civilians were injured.
