Fire captain, new hire killed in house fire

'We tried to save them. We tried. We tried.'













Capt. Robin Broxterman, 37, and Brian Schira, 29, were killed in a house fire in Colerain Township this morning.

BY CLIFF RADEL | CRADEL@ENQUIRER.COM

COLERAIN TWP. – One by one, the soot-blackened fire fighters trudged up the rain-slicked driveway.

Heads down. Eyes tearing. Hearts broken.

“We tried to save them,” sobbed Colerain Township Capt. Steve Fortunski as he fell into the arms of Dan Meloy, the township’s police chief. “We tried. We tried.”

But their best efforts were in vain. Two of their own, 37-year-old Capt. Robin Broxterman and 29-year-old Firefighter Brian Schira, a veteran and a rookie, died in an early Friday morning house fire. Investigators at the scene attributed their deaths to “a catastrophic structural failure” that trapped them inside the house...

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of both of these firefighters. As a deputy in the county I'm familiar with many members of the Colerain FD. I have a couple in particular that I'm friends with. I know they, and their brothers and sisters in the department are hurting greatly right now. Nothing that I or anyone else says can lessen that hurt. I can only pray, along with everyone else, that the Good Lord gives them the peace that passes all understanding in this terrible time.