Hundreds of people gathered outside St. Joseph Ukrainian Catholic Church in Norridge Thursday morning as the remains of Lt. Jan Tchoryk, a veteran Chicago firefighter who died last week in the line of duty, were lowered from a fire truck that was covered in flowers. The casket was draped with an American flag.
Firefighters and mourners stood at attention, paying their respects to the fallen first responder as a United States flag waved in the wind, suspended between the ladders of two fire trucks.
Family, friends and colleagues remember Tchoryk — of Ukrainian heritage — as a man with a permanent smile and many stories to tell. Inside the church, celebrants surrounded the open casket and intoned a few hymns to begin the service. Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson also was in attendance.
Known as “Jon,” Tchoryk, 55, died last Wednesday battling a fire in a high-rise on the city’s lakefront in the Gold Coast. The veteran firefighter was leading a ladder crew in a staircase trying to put out the wind-driven blaze when he “went down” as he worked the scene, Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said at a later news conference.
An autopsy determined Tchoryk died of a heart attack, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled natural.
Tchoryk was married, had several children and was “an active outdoorsman, a motorcyclist and a Navy veteran,” fire officials said.
He was the second firefighter to lose his life on the job last week.
Firefighter Jermaine Pelt, 49, died Tuesday during a West Pullman blaze. A visitation for Pelt will be held today at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 W. 103rd St., in Oak Lawn from 3 to 10 p.m., a statement from the Fire Department said.
Pelt’s funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Friday at the House of Hope, 752 E. 114th St., in Chicago.
