Visitation for Chicago Firefighter Jermaine Pelt, who died in the line of duty April 4, was held Thursday in suburban Oak Lawn.
Mourners gathered at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. to remember the fallen firefighter. Pelt’s funeral service will be 11 a.m. Friday at House of Hope in Chicago.
Pelt, 49, died battling an extra-alarm fire in the West Pullman neighborhood. He joined the Chicago Fire Department in 2005 and was based on the South Side his entire career, Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said.
Pelt was a registered nurse, a paramedic and an instructor at the fire academy. His fellow firefighters remembered him as “the kindest person” at work and a great firehouse cook.
He celebrated a birthday in March and had a son who is 6 years old.
He was one of two Chicago firefighters who died while fighting a blaze last week. Jan Tchoryk, a CFD lieutenant, died a day after Pelt as he helped fight a high-rise blaze in the Gold Coast neighborhood.
Hundreds attended Tchoryk’s funeral service, which was held Thursday at St. Joseph Ukrainian Church in Chicago.
