Final goodbye to firefighter killed in northwest DC apartment blaze

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Friends and family said their final goodbyes Friday to Lieutenant Kevin McRae, the D.C. firefighter who died last week while responding to an apartment fire in the northwest.

A public viewing for McRae was held Friday morning followed by a public service at the D.C. Armory. At the service, several city leaders spoke about McRae.

"We are here where we should be, just as Lieutenant Kevin McRae was always there for every one of us," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

"I bring you the condolences of the 660,000 residents of the District of Columbia," said Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Bowser said that McRae's mother told her that her son loved his job ever since being recruited in high school.

McRae died on May 6 after helping battle a fire on the ninth floor of sn apartment building on 7th Street in northwest D.C. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

McRae's death is not the first loss his family has suffered. Kevin McRae's cousin, James, also died while on the job as a D.C. firefighter in 2007.