MD Fallen to be Remembered at Annual Event

Responding to a Pasadena house fire after only a few months on the job as a county-employed firefighter, John Balcer was killed in 1970 when the fire engine he was riding in skidded and flipped over, also injuring four other firefighters.

It was the first death in the line of duty for the newly-formed Anne Arundel County Fire Department.

This year, Balcer will be remembered during Fallen Heroes Day, an annual commemoration in Timonium dedicated to public safety workers who have died in the line of duty during the past year, as well as one firefighter and one police officer who died before the tradition was established in 1986.

Balcer was chosen as the firefighter to be recognized at this year's ceremony, which is Friday at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

Also being honored at the ceremony are the three firefighters who died in a Baltimore rowhouse fire in January, Lt. Paul Butrim, Lt. Kelsey Sadler, and firefighter/paramedic Kenny Lacayo, and Baltimore police officer Keona S. Holley, who died in December after being shot in an ambush.

Balcer, a graduate of Severna Park High School, was 22 years old at the time of the crash. He had just graduated from his training to finally become a career firefighter assigned to the Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Department after spending more than a year working for the fire department's communications office.

He left behind a wife and two young children — a son who was nearing two years of age, and a daughter who was born just two months before the accident.

"It's a shame they can't remember him much," said Balcer's widow, who is now remarried as Dorothy Thomas. "I've always felt like he would have been a great dad."

The couple met on a blind date, and were married within a matter of months in 1967. As a couple, they enjoyed bowling, camping and going to the movies together. The fireman loved watching football, Thomas recalled. After working long shifts, he would sometimes head straight to the Marley Volunteer Fire Company to play pinochle.

He was always helpful with the young ones, she said. And he always made sure the bills were paid right away.

Thomas learned of the crash that claimed her husband's life while listening to a fire communications monitor at home. She remembers her mother comforted her as the radio went quiet, and then the fire chiefs came by to tell her the news.

Two weeks later, Dorothy was joined in widowhood by her mother after her father died of a heart attack. They raised the children together at the family home in Arnold, where Dorothy Thomas has lived ever since.

She said she was helped after the incident by her husband's fellow firefighters, and their families, who swooped in to offer support.

"You kind of sit down and think of the what ifs, how it could have gone differently," Thomas said. "But it all worked out, between the family, the friends, we came through this and marched on."

One of those firemen decided a few years later to give Dorothy a call on Valentine's Day. That eventually lead to a wedding, and a blended family of firefighters.

"I knew her, I knew she was a fine young lady," said Melvin Thomas Sr., a friend of Balcer's who had worked alongside him during his time on the field. "And now, here we are 47 years later."

Melvin Thomas Sr. was a career firefighter at the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company by the time a teenaged John Balcer had started volunteering there in the mid-1960s.

"He did really well" at the station, Melvin Thomas Sr. said, noting his younger colleague was enthusiastic about being in the fire service. "Who knows how far he could have gone."

Balcer's eventual goal was to work in a fire department ladder truck company, a specialty that "you have to work your way up to," his former colleague said. He recalled that the day the Glen Burnie Volunteer Fire Company got their first truck, Balcer "could not wait" to check it out.

"He was just beside himself" that day, he said.

Melvin Thomas Sr. was off duty on the day Balcer died. He remembers stopping by the Earleigh Heights firehouse, where his colleagues told him what had happened.

"You're always trying to prepare yourself for who-knows-what in firefighting," he said.

"Sometimes you think 'that couldn't happen here,' but believe me, it'll come around."

John Balcer's name is inscribed in tributes to fallen firefighters in Annapolis and at the county fire department's headquarters, as well as a plaque at the Riviera Beach company. Next year, Dorothy Thomas and other Maryland widows plan to travel to the International Association of Firefighters' memorial in Colorado Springs, where Balcer's name will be added at the union's annual ceremony to the fallen.

And with the return of an in-person Fallen Heroes Day this year, his family, colleagues and friends plan to come together once again in his name.

"We're like one big firefighting family," Dorothy Thomas said.

Her cousin was a longtime fire lieutenant, as well as several of Melvin Thomas' relatives. The couple let the family legacy of firefighting live on with his son, Melvin Thomas, Jr., who retired in 2015 after more than 30 years as a county firefighter.

"We're like a different breed," Melvin Thomas, Sr., said.

2022 honorees

— Chief Nicholas C. Finamore of the Prince George's County Fire Department died from COVID-19 complications on Jan. 5, 2021.

— Lieutenant William A. Sheffield of the Baltimore City Fire Department died on Jan. 27, 2021, after losing his battle with COVID-19.

— Director of Field Operations Beverly Good of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — Customs and Border Protection/ Office of Field Operations, Baltimore, died on Jan. 28, 2021.

— Corporal Keith A. Heacook of the Delmar Police Department died April 28, 2021. Heacook succumbed to injuries sustained on when he was brutally assaulted after responding to a fight in progress.

— Battalion Chief Joshua D. Laird of the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services died on Aug. 11, as a result of injuries sustained while battling a two-alarm house fire in Ijamsville.

— Firefighter/EMT Kelly W. Frye, a 26-year veteran of the City of Cumberland Fire Department passed away on Sept. 29 after succumbing to COVID-19.

— Police Officer Keona S. Holley of the Baltimore Police Department died on Dec. 23. Holley succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on Dec. 16 when she was ambushed in her patrol car during an overnight shift in Curtis Bay.

— Battalion Chief Christopher D. Morlan, a 23-year veteran of the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services died on Dec. 23 after succumbing to COVID-19.

— Police Officer Gregory M. Santangelo of the Frederick Police Department died on Dec. 28 after experiencing complications from COVID-19.

— Paramedic/Firefighter Robert "Bobby" A. Jones of the Reese & Community Volunteer Fire Company died Jan. 20 due to complications from COVID-19.

— Lt. Paul Butrim, Lt. Kelsey Sadler and EMT/Firefighter Kenneth Lacayo of the Baltimore City Fire Department died on Jan. 24 while battling a fire in a vacant rowhouse in the Mount Clare neighborhood.

— Firefighter/EMT Wayne V. Fisher, a 9-year veteran of the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Foundation, passed away suddenly from a medical emergency on Feb. 6 while on duty at the Darlington Volunteer Fire Company.

— Firefighter Janet H. Holbrook, of the Whiteford Volunteer Fire Company, passed away on Feb. 22 after returning home from an emergency call.

— Baltimore City Police Detective Richard Bosak, who was shot and killed on April 18, 1968, while attempting to arrest a suspect who had escaped custody.

— Anne Arundel County Firefighter John F. Balcer, who died on April 9, 1970, when responding to a call of a house fire.

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