WALLA WALLA, Wash.-The City of Walla Walla started the New Year by honoring two firefighters who lost their lives in a New Year’s Day fire fifty years ago.
The Walla Walla Fire Department responded to a fire at the PeGe Tavern on Main St. in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day in 1974.
Several firefighters were injured when a brick wall fell on them and two, Fire Marshall Gabe Tichi (47) and firefighter Woody Groom (26), died from their injuries.
According to the Walla Walla Professional Firefighters Local 404, a statue memorializing the two firefighters is now at Crawford Park and the Valley Transit Transfer and every New Year’s Walla Walla Firefighters honor those who have died or were injured in the line of duty.