Kennewick Firefighter to receive line-of-duty death honors

KENNEWICK, Wash.-- Following the attacks on New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Kennewick firefighter and paramedic Steve Bailie joined an Incident Management Team that worked in the recovery effort at the site.

When he was diagnosed with a rare leukemia in 2018, it was determined that the illness was directly linked to toxins he was exposed to at Ground Zero. As such, his death on July 17, 2020 is considered a line-of-duty fatality, because he contracted the cancer while on duty.

The Kennewick Fire Department will hold a Line of Duty Death with Honors funeral for Bailie on Saturday, September 12th.

The funeral begins with a procession that starts at Fire Station 1 located at 6th Ave. and Auburn. Before more than 2-dozen fire trucks begin to make their way to Desert Lawn Memorial at 10:10 a.m., crews will remove and fold the flag flying over the station and fold it for presentation to Bailie's family during the graveside ceremony.

The procession will continue down 6th Ave. to Dayton, and then to Kennewick Ave., continue to Union St., and end at Desert Lawn Memorial. Community members are encouraged to line the procession route, following social distancing guidelines, to show support for Bailie's family and other first responders.

The graveside service is limited to family members due to COVID-19 restrictions.