Family and Friends Gather to Name Honorary Street 'CFD Billy Grant Way'

CHICAGO, IL -- Family members and neighbors of a fallen Chicago firefighter will gather this Saturday at the corner Family members and neighbors of a Chicago firefighter who was killed in the line of duty. The honorary street naming ceremony will take place this Saturday.

Family members and neighbors will gather this Saturday to dedicate an honorary street in memory of fallen Chicago firefighter William F. Grant.

Billy Grant was 44 years old when he was killed in the line of duty on March 23, 2007. Truck 51 was en route to a house in the 5600 block of South May when it was clipped by a school bus. The rig tipped over, killing Grant and injuring three fellow firefighters, according to news reports.

The 21-year veteran is recalled on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Wall of Honor as a unique person that managed to combine intense kindness with bravery; love with passion; intelligence with action; and loyalty with friendship. When a new firehouse for Truck 51 / Engine 84 was built, smaller tables were installed in the dining room, instead of one large table.

“Bill believed in the old firehouse tradition ‘One Table‚ One Family,’” his colleagues recalled. “On his own‚ Bill decided to construct a single table for the firehouse that everyone could sit around. He loved working with his hands and he loved his firehouse. That table is a bit worse-for-ware but it is still in use today and it is a testament to Bill’s brotherhood.”

His family at the Chicago Fire Department called Grant “the best of the best.”

Grant was a devoted husband to his wife, Sharon, and loving father to three children, Kristin‚ Caroline‚ and Danny.

The honorary street naming ceremony will start at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at the corner of 90th Street and Hoyne Avenue.