Firefighters from around country expected to honor fallen comrade

From Staff Reports

June 22, 2007 11:46 am

— Washington’s Hatchet House, where Mark Kelsey wrestled his way to the state finals in his senior year at Washington High School, will be the setting for the fallen South Carolina firefighter’s funeral.
Services are set for 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The WHS gymnasium will hold the funeral which is expected to bring upwards of 500 firefighters from the rest of the country, including a contingency of fellow firefighters and Kelsey’s chief from his Charleston, S.C., department. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m.
Kelsey was a 1985 graduate of WHS that settled in Charleston, S.C., after his service in the U.S. Navy. He was an engineer with the department, as well as a captain on the Ashley River Volunteer Fire Department. He died Monday along with eight other firefighters when the roof of a furniture store collapsed during a fire.
During Washington’s school board meeting Thursday, administrative assistant Paul Goss said the school’s buses and drivers will be used to transport the firefighters from the gym to Sugarland Memorial Gardens where Kelsey will be laid to rest.
The Charleston Fire Department is sending the fire truck Kelsey rode on to transport his body from the funeral to the graveside.
Currently plans call for Kelsey to be flown into Indianapolis where his body will have a firefighter and state police escort to Washington on Saturday.
Funeral arrangements are being handled locally by Poindexter, Hall and McClure Funeral Home.