Greg Lacour
The Charlotte Observer

AP Photo/The Charlotte Observer, Gary O'Brien Salisbury, N.C., firefighters gather before the services.

SALISBURY, N.C. — Firefighters call it "returning to quarters."

Victor Isler and Justin Monroe made the trip Monday. Starting in downtown Charlotte, they traveled up Interstate 85 to Salisbury, where they had served as firefighters.

The procession bearing their bodies paused in front of the central fire station on East Innes Street in Salisbury. Then to the square downtown, where people wearing red ribbons stood three-deep along the sidewalks. Then to the funeral home.

Isler, 40, and Monroe, 19, killed Friday in a woodworking plant fire, will be buried this week. Monday was a day for their colleagues and the public to show their respects.

And they did, from the medical examiner's office in Charlotte to the funeral home not far from where the two died.

Once the line of at least 50 vehicles entered Cabarrus County, it was greeted by one engine after another, perched on overpasses. They were representatives of departments in Concord, Kannapolis and other nearby towns, ladders extended and flags hung halfway up.

"It's the brotherhood," said Rebecca Klingerman, who took time off from her job at King's College to catch the beginning; her husband, Kyle, is a Charlotte firefighter.

The gathering at the medical examiner's office was sparse. But the numbers grew as the procession got closer to Salisbury. By 6 p.m., hundreds lined the street near the central fire station.

There, firefighter Travis Ketchie and his friend, taxidermist Chet Hedrick, waited for the trucks. Both were friends of Justin Monroe, who loved to hunt and fish when he wasn't fighting fires.

On Thursday, the three had made plans: Hey, let's go fishing at High Rock Lake tomorrow. At first, Monroe was thrilled. Then he remembered he had to work. It's OK, his friends said. We can go Monday.

That conversation was their last with Monroe.

"It just makes it a little bit worse for us," Ketchie said. "It's kind of a tough pill to swallow, waking up this morning and realizing you have to do this instead of going fishing with him."

But that's the risk, as anyone knows who is a friend, family member or spouse of a firefighter. It can just happen. You don't get a warning.

The Klingermans have talked about it. She knew what she was getting into when they married. Before then, even. When they began dating at East Gaston High School, Kyle told Rebecca he was going to be a Charlotte firefighter.

"Every day, when he leaves for work, we always tell each other we love each other and kiss, because you never know what his shift is going to bring," she said. "But I respect him. I respect the job. It was his dream to be a fireman. You just have to be strong for him."

Copyright 2008 The News and Observer