Mourners say final goodbyes to fallen firefighter Michael Altman: 'It’s clear he was well loved'
Friends and loved ones of fallen Chicago firefighter Michael Altman said their final goodbyes during a funeral Tuesday morning in southwest suburban Oak Lawn.
The private funeral service was held at the Blake-Lamb funeral home at 4727 W. 103rd St. after planned services on Friday were canceled when Altman’s wife went into labor Thursday.
Despite steady rain, first responders and community members lined the street outside the funeral home as Altman’s casket, draped in a Chicago flag, was carried to a procession bound for his final resting place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip.
Altman, a firefighter and EMT, died March 17 from injuries he suffered the day before while fighting a fire in a Rogers Park apartment. The blaze was in a four-story building in the 1700 block of West North Shore Avenue. Altman fell after the floor collapsed, fire officials said.
Robert Podvin, a former Cook County correctional officer, never met 32-year-old Altman but said he came to pay his respects to the family and to the first-responders who served alongside him.
Standing across the street from the funeral home, Podvin said the loss of a first responder is never easy, but he hopes the outpouring of support shows how deeply Altman was loved and offers some comfort to his family.
“It’s clear he was well loved,” said Podvin, 69. “[Altman] died a tragic death and it leaves you speechless. I hope he rests in peace.”
Altman had been with the department less than two years. He served on Truck 47 in Edgewater and came “from a long history of public service in the Chicago Fire Department,” Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said on the day Altman died.
Altman’s grandfather, Edward P. Altman, served as the fire commissioner from 1996 until 1999. Three of his sons — Edward F., James and Altman’s father, Michael — followed in his footsteps and were also firefighters. Altman’s father rose to the rank of battalion chief.
Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters the city “not only lost a public servant, but we lost a hero.”
Former suburban firefighter Michael Gruber said it was important to show support for the family of a firefighter who died in the line of duty.
“When a family has suffered such a tragic loss as this, support is the biggest thing that can be shown,” said Gruber, 70. “He didn't die alone and will never be forgotten. His death was not in vain.”
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.
Slate was ordered detained at a hearing last week. As they had at an earlier hearing, firefighters again packed the courtroom in support of Altman.