Mourners pay respects to fallen Chicago firefighter Michael Altman: 'It's beyond words'

Rick Schultz had a lot of things running through his mind Thursday as he tried to summon the words he would say when he paid respects to Chicago firefighter Michael Altman’s family.

He and his wife, Mary Lynn Schultz, knew Altman’s wife’s family through their son.

“It’s beyond words,” Rick Schultz, 70, said of Altman’s death last week after battling a fire in Rogers Park.

“Treasure each moment because my grandfather used to say, ‘You never know how a day’s going to end,’” Rick Schultz said.

“Take the moments of life very seriously because family means a lot, and we know this family ,” said Mary Lynn Schultz, 71. “That’s where it is all most important. When you have family and close relationships like that, you’re rich in life.”

Visitation for Altman, 32, was Thursday at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, 7740 S. Western Ave. Altman’s funeral had been planned for Friday, but was postponed after his wife went into labor on Thursday. She gave birth to a girl, named Evelyn, WGN-9 reported.

Red ribbons adorned almost all the trees, street signs, light poles and fencing around the church in Ashburn. A large American flag was strung between the aerial ladders of two firetrucks parked along Western Avenue.

Altman was among the firefighters who responded around 11:20 a.m. March 16 to a fire behind a four-story building in the 1700 block of West North Shore Avenue, Deputy District Fire Chief Kelly Burns told reporters at the scene.

When the floor collapsed, Altman fell from the first floor into the basement, suffering burns to 90% of his body, officials said. He was pronounced dead the next day.

Sheaves Slate, 27, is charged with murder, residential arson and aggravated arson injuring a firefighter in connection with the fire. Prosecutors allege Slate, who had lived in the four-flat, was feeling “suicidal” about his “poor relationship with friends” and used a lighter to set fire to a mattress in inside a third-floor unit.

At a hearing Monday, Slate was ordered detained. Firefighters packed the courtroom in support of Altman, as they had during an earlier hearing.

“As usual, we support our brothers and sisters, and we always will,” Pat Cleary, president of the Chicago firefighters union, said at the time.

Representatives from other agencies, including the Chicago Police Department, Illinois State Police and the Western Springs Fire Department, paid their respects Thursday, as did Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza.

Mourners inside the chapel lined up to view Altman’s casket, draped in a city of Chicago flag, and address his family. Photographs of Altman were displayed throughout, alongside large bouquets of white and red flowers.

Altman, who served on Truck 47 in Edgewater, came from a storied Chicago Fire Department family. His father was a battalion chief, and his grandfather ran the department under Mayor Richard M. Daley.