New York – Local firefighters have adopted as one of their own a 9-year-old boy who died saving six relatives from a fire that destroyed his grandfather’s upstate New York home.

A stream of cars and fire vehicles made its way Wednesday to St. John of Rochester Catholic Church for a funeral service for Tyler Doohan. The boy died trying to rescue his grandfather, who also died, along with another relative.

[…] Tyler died in the early morning of Jan. 20 as fire destroyed a single-wide trailer in Penfield. His grandfather, Stephen Smith, 54, and step great-grandfather Lewis Beach, 63, also died in the blaze. Tyler was off from school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and had asked his mother the previous night to sleep at his grandfather’s residence.

As the fire spread, Tyler woke six people, including two other children. They all escaped. When Tyler went back into the trailer to help his grandfather, who used a wheelchair, he never made it back out as all three perished. (link)

LOCAL MEDIA – […] On Wednesday, at a combined funeral Mass that celebrated Tyler and his fallen grandfather, Stephen Smith, 54, and his step great-grandfather, Lewis Beach, 63, who also died in the fire, the focus turned to how Tyler lived.

His mother, Crystal Vrooman, who turned 29 Wednesday, recalled Tyler as a “sweet boy” whose sense of humor brought joy to those around him.

Choking back tears, she recalled happy times drawing and coloring with him and how close he was with his grandfather. In her remarks, she asked Smith and Beach to “play tons of games” with Tyler in heaven.

[…] At the church, firefighters from around western New York lined the lobby walls wearing dress blues and white gloves. Outside, fire engines lined the streets and firefighters braved frigid temperatures to direct the traffic of the more than 200 people who attended the funeral.

“We consider him an honorary firefighter,” said Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer, who presented Vrooman with a red and white helmet with a shield bearing her son’s name.

Word of Tyler’s heroics quickly spread on social media websites and prompted tens of thousands of dollars in donations to his family to pay for his funeral.

The story so touched the basketball team at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family in Manitowoc, Wisc., that players traveled through the night to act as pallbearers.

“The players were taken with the story,” said their coach, Phil Budervic. “Our core values are compassion and community and we teach them that compassion has no limits and community has no boundaries. They looked at this as if it happened next door.” (continue reading)