REPORT: No Single Cause Led to Firefighter's Death

The 84-page document offers observations and recommendations for battling future fires following the January 2011 death of volunteer firefighter Mark Falkenhan.

  Requiring all fire personnel to have a portable radio when entering a life-threatening situation and ensuring that teams entering those situations remain together were two of the recommendations to come out of the final report investigating the death of volunteer firefighter Mark Falkenhan. The 84-page report by the Baltimore County Fire Department comes more than 14 months after Falkenhan, a Middle River native and member of the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company, died in the line of duty while battling a four-alarm apartment fire on Jan. 19, 2011 in Hillendale. Investigators concluded that a frying pan with oil that was left unattended on a stove in a first-floor apartment caused the fire, according to the report. Baltimore County Fire…

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One Year Later: Remembering Mark Falkenhan

The Lutherville volunteer firefighter from Middle River died on Jan. 19, 2011 while helping battle a four-alarm apartment blaze in Parkville.

(UPDATED 12:56 p.m.) Gladys Falkenhan is still hoping to wake up one day and realize the last year has been nothing more than a nightmare. It was one year ago today that Gladys Falkenhan’s life would be changed forever. It was on this day—Jan. 19, 2011—that her husband, Lutherville Volunteer Fire Co. firefighter Mark Falkenhan, died while battling a four-alarm apartment blaze in Parkville. The Middle River native became the first Baltimore County line of duty death since three firefighters died battling the Shiller’s Furniture fire in Dundalk in 1984. “I’m just waiting for Mark to walk through the door with that big smile and hug us all,” Falkenhan said. Gladys Falkenhan said she has done her best to remain strong over the last year in …

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Mark Falkenhan Honored During Annual Memorial Ceremony

Service honors firefighters who have died in the last year.

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Photos: Remembering Mark Falkenhan

More than 400 family, friends and others gathered at Columbus Gardens in Perry Hall to remember the life of fallen firefighter Mark Falkenhan.

More than 400 people turned out Friday night to Columbus Gardens in Perry Hall for a benefit for the family of fallen firefighter Mark Falkenhan. Unlike the larger benefit held in May at the Towson Center, this gathering was mainly family, friends and others who personally knew Falkenhan, a Middle River native and Lutherville volunteer firefighter who died Jan. 19 while battling an apartment blaze. Falkenhan, who also spent 16 years at a firefighter/paramedic in the Baltimore County Fire Department before leaving for a job in the U.S. Secret Service, was the first in the county to die in the line of duty since 1984. Katie Haines, Falkenhan's cousin, was among the key organizers of Friday's event, “Falkenhan’s Friends: A Mark Falkenhan Fund…

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Family, Friends of Fallen Firefighter Continue to Help

Tickets are still available for the July 1 fundraiser to benefit family of Mark Falkenhan, who died battling a blaze on Jan. 19.

In the six months since volunteer firefighter Mark Falkenhan was killed in the line of duty, people from all over the region have reached out to support his family. There have been multiple tributes, along with several fund-raisers designed to assist Falkenhan’s wife Gladys and their children, Christian and Garrett. Falkenhan’s cousin, Katie Haines, has been extremely appreciative for the love and support. But she also felt she wanted to do something a little more intimate as a way help celebrate a life cut far too short. That is why she, along with several other of Falkenhan’s relatives, organized “Falkenhan’s Friends: A Mark Falkenhan Fund Benefit.” About 50 tickets, which cost $40, remain for the event. It is scheduled for 7 p.m.-12 a.m…

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Lutherville Lab’s First-Graders Present Handmade Quilts to Volunteer Fire Department

The quilts will be given to fallen firefighter Mark Falkenhan’s widow and children.

The first-grade classes at Lutherville Laboratory presented quilts they made for the family of fallen firefighter/paramedic Mark Falkenhan to the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Department this morning.  Read about the quilt-making project here. Third Lt. David Wilmot, whose son Samuel is a first-grader at Lutherville, was on hand to receive the quilts on behalf of the Falkenhan family. Wilmot said to the children, “What makes these quilts so special is that anyone can buy a quilt at the store, but when a quilt is made by someone special, with heart and with love, by all of you guys, you can’t buy these quilts in the store. These are one of a kind.” The quilts were made from artwork that the children drew with crayon directly onto cotton …

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Franklin Square Hospital Center Dedicates EMS Lounge in Falkenhan's Honor

Falkenhan, the volunteer firefighter who died battling an apartment blaze Jan. 19, took hundreds of patients to the Rosedale hospital through the years.

Mark Falkenhan never got the opportunity to bring a patient into the new emergency department at Franklin Square Hospital Center. The longtime paramedic retired from the Baltimore County Fire Department to take a job with the U.S. Secret Service in 2006, four years before the hospital completed its expansion. Then, Falkenhan died on Jan. 19 while battling an apartment fire with the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Department in Hillendale. Still, Falkenhan's legacy, who lived in Middle River, will last for many years to come at Franklin Square after the Rosedale hospital dedicated its EMS lounge in his honor during a ceremony on Thursday morning. Medical personnel from the hospital, along with members of the Baltimore County Fire Department and …

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First Graders Make Quilts to 'Bring Smile' to the Falkenhan Family

Fallen firefighter's family will be presented with the quilt in the coming weeks.

The first grade classes at Lutherville Lab will be presenting hand-made quilts to the Falkenhan family, in memory of fallen firefighter Mark Falkenhan. Eighty-one first graders contributed a quilting square that they created themselves, with a single piece of cotton fabric and crayons. “They were told they were making a quilt for someone special, to make them smile,” Sara Mullan, a first grade teacher, said.  The children don’t know that the quilts, sewn together from their crayoned blocks of fabric, are for a fallen firefighter’s family. They only know that the quilts are for a special member of their community, and their goal was to bring a smile. The first grade classes will be presenting their quilts to the Lutherville Volunteer Fire …

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Falkenhan Family Continues to Heal

Firefighter Mark Falkenhan, who died Jan. 19 battling an apartment blaze, is among six to be honored at Fallen Heroes Day ceremony today at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

Gladys Falkenhan said she still has moments when she hopes her husband, Mark, will walk in the door and tell her he was just away on business. Those moments are fleeting and Falkenhan quickly returns to her new reality: living without the love of her life. Mark Falkenhan, a 43-year-old volunteer firefighter from the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Co., died Jan. 19 while battling a four-alarm blaze in a three-story Hillendale apartment complex. Mark Falkenhan became the first firefighter in Baltimore County to die in the line of duty fighting a fire since 1984. “I still have days when I’m out and something happens and I think ‘I need to tell Mark about this’ and then it comes back to me that he’s not coming home,” said Gladys Falkenhan, who …

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Fallen Firefighter Awarded Highest Honor

The Baltimore County Fire Department posthumously honored Mark Falkenhan with the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart during the agency's promotions and commendations ceremony.

Baltimore County Fire Department Capt. Roland Dembeck accepts that any time he enters a burning building he may have to pull a civilian out of the blaze. Going into a fire to save a fellow firefighter is not something Dembeck ever expected after more than 20 years on the job. But that’s exactly what Dembeck did on Jan. 19 when he climbed up a ladder and pulled Lutherville Volunteer Firefighter Mark Falkenhan out of a burning apartment building on Dowling Circle in Hillendale. Dembeck rescued a gravely injured Falkenhan from the third floor of the building before emergency medical service personnel transported him to St. Joseph Medical Center in an unsuccessful effort to save his life. “In our job, you are prepared to rescue civilians and …

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