First came the street sweepers. Then scores of state, Boston, and Canton police officers thundered in on motorcycles. And lastly, the hearse rolled up to the entrance of Holy Name Church in West Roxbury, where eight firefighters in their blue dress uniforms waited in a silent salute.
As police blocked off Centre Street and stood at attention, pallbearers removed the casket of Paul J. Cahill from the back of the hearse and slowly carried it up the stairs and into the church. Cahill and Warren J. Payne were killed last week fighting a fire at a restaurant in West Roxbury. They were the first Boston firefighters to die in a fire since 1994.
"This is the first part of a long goodbye to firefighters Cahill and Payne," said Steven McDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.
On Centre Street, bouqets of flowers covered the driveway leading into the firehouse.
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