By Art Golab
The Chicago Sun-Times

BLUE ISLAND, Ill. — When Gene Marcheschi was 6 years old, he chased a fire truck down the street and said, "I'm going to be a fireman someday, dad."

Thirty years later, he crawled through thick black smoke and searing heat to the back of a burning house in Dixmoor where a child with Down syndrome was trapped. Mr. Marcheschi then removed his breathing mask and gave it to the child as he waited the long minutes for colleagues to saw through burglar bars blocking a window.

That rescue earned Mr. Marcheschi a Illinois state firefighter's medal of valor, one of many awards and citations earned in a 24-year career as a firefighter in Blue Island and Calumet Park.

Mr. Marcheschi, a full-time lieutenant in the Blue Island Fire Department and a part-time captain in Calumet Park, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Chicago. He was 46.

His death shocked his colleagues, who described him as a "legend" among south suburban firefighters.

"He was a great firefighter. You could send him into any situation, and he would be able to get it done," said Calumet Park Fire Chief Thomas Battistella.

Part of his legend derived from the fact that he trained scores of firefighters in both of his departments and also at Moraine Valley Community College, where he taught fire science for many years.

Blue Island Fire Chief Robert Copp taught classes with Mr. Marcheschi at Moraine Valley. "I would just sit there and listen to him. I wish I had the ability to connect with students the way he did," Copp said.

Mr. Marcheschi himself never tired of training and was always ready to pass on what he learned to others, said former Calumet Park firefighter Scott Stewart.

He was especially fond of live fire training exercises. "The hotter and smokier, the better. He could be tough, but he taught us to be good firefighters," said Stewart, who is also a Chicago Sun-Times photographer.

There was never any doubt that Mr. Marcheschi would be a firefighter. A few years after he chased that first truck, he had a scanner and would ride his bike to fire calls. Later, he was in a fire department-sponsored scout troop and a fire cadet in Blue Island, the town he grew up in.

"He liked being the person who could do some good for people in trouble," said his father, Robert.

He also liked to tinker with technology, be it fire department radios or stock cars he raced at local tracks.

His heroes included Dale Earnhardt Sr., and the rock band Chicago, which he made a special effort to see in concert every year.

Mr. Marcheschi also rode motorcycles and recently, in a contest run by a fire clothing company, won a $60,000 firefighter-themed custom bike built by Orange County Choppers.

The company flew him out to be photographed on the motorcycle, but it was due to be delivered in August, and he never got to ride it.

Besides his father, survivors include his mother, Linda; his wife, Kimberly; a daughter, Michelle; a sister, Denise, and three brothers, Michael, Daniel and David.

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