Photo Gallery: Owings Mills Fire Company Pays Special Tribute to Fallen Firefighter

More than 20 firefighters from the paid tribute to one of their own Monday.

They stood on a truck that had been used to respond to the same fire that took firefighter Mark Falkenhan's life, said Capt. Kevin Wallett of the Owings Mills Company. Truck 313 was one of the many dispatched to a four-alarm fire in a three-story Hillendale apartment Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Lutherville volunteer firefighter from Middle River died from injuries sustained while — but not before he and other firefighters rescued two trapped residents.

The group held the flag up on top of the truck on the Ruxton Road I-83 overpass for 90-plus minutes during the bitter cold, windy day.

It wasn't hard to get the guys together for the tribute, Wallett said.

"You don't have to ask for help for this," he said.

Other Owings Mills firefighters attended Falkenhan's funeral at Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in North Baltimore before the procession.

Several people who drove by said they felt compelled to stop and watch the procession, leading to a long line of cars down Ruxton Road. Alex Chen of Baltimore said he volunteered for a company a long time ago and had planned to wait it out in the cold for the vehicle carrying Falkenhan's body to pass.

Amy Zesiger of Mt. Washington said she was running an errand with her son Cooper, 3, and stopped on a whim. Cooper and his brother both want to be firefighters when they grow up, she said.

"I just thought it'd be a nice thing to do," she said.