By Lawrence Sussman
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
Copyright 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc.
WAUWATOSA, Wis. — A smoldering restaurant fire 25 years ago claimed the lives of two firefighters, and on Sunday survivors made sure the men would never be forgotten.
Some 125 people gathered to commemorate the lives of the two firefighter/paramedics who died Aug. 15, 1981, fighting the fire at Alioto’s restaurant, 3041 N. Mayfair Road.
James Lorbeck, 42, and Lawrence Schampers, 38, died of smoke inhalation.
Fire officials said the smoldering fire flared and rolled over the firefighters’ heads. The two could not get out of the basement before the oxygen in the compressed air tanks they were wearing was depleted.
The Wauwatosa Fire Department, in conjunction with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, found that the fire was intentionally set. No one ever was charged with starting the fire, which began in a linen closet.
Hank Wendt, president of the Wauwatosa Professional Firefighters Association Local 1923, said he organized the commemoration because after 25 years, two-thirds of the department’s firefighters were not around when Lorbeck and Schampers served with the department.
“Twenty-five years is a special milestone,” he said. “We have not forgotten what these men gave.”
Fire Capt. John Sabljak, who has been with the Wauwatosa Fire Department for 26 years, said at the commemoration that he probably was the last person to see the two firefighters alive, and their images are stored in his memory.
Fire didn’t seem serious
At first, Sabljak said, the fire did not seem that serious, and firefighters had time to move a table with wedding gifts away from the smoke. About 150 people had been in the basement waiting for a wedding reception to start.
“We were confident that we would wrap it up in a short time,” Sabljak said.
But a hose Lorbeck and Schampers were using lost water pressure, and Sabljak was told to go upstairs to learn why.
“I wanted to stay and fight it,” he said about the fire. “Then I saw the men pouring water on the fire, and suddenly things deteriorated. There was intense heat and thick black smoke.”
As a remembrance of the two men, the firefighters association unveiled a memorial Sunday. The memorial consists of the men’s pictures placed next to two brass helmets with their names inscribed on the front of the helmets.
“It’s our hope,” Wendt said, “that we never have to add to this memorial.”