As the first firefighter's body was carried through the front door of the ruined Ebenezer Baptist Church, his comrades took off their soot-smeared helmets and pressed in close behind the waiting ambulance.

J. Monroe Butler II, Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Police Detective Brenda Tate, left, who has belonged to the church since 1988, and fellow church member Lisa Biggs grieve as Ebenezer Baptist Church burns yesterday morning. Click photo for larger image. Related article Fallen firefighers called veterans who didn't shy from risks

Forming a rough line, they saluted firefighter Richard Stefanakis, one of two men whose bodies were recovered yesterday after a five-alarm blaze pulled the church's steeple down on them and dozens of others.

"They were great firefighters, great men and close friends," Pittsburgh Fire Chief Peter Micheli said as Stefanakis, 51, was driven away and rescue workers continued searching for the body of Battalion Chief Charles Brace, 55.

Ebenezer Baptist Church, a center of religious and social life in the Hill District for 131 years, was destroyed in the blaze, which spread rapidly through the building despite the efforts of more than 75 firefighters. Parishioners who were in the church when the fire broke out said the fire apparently began in the basement, spread through the electrical system and ignited the building's walls and furniture.

Its cause was still being investigated last night, said city Operations Director Bob Kennedy.

The fire was reported about 9 a.m. Second, third and fourth alarms came shortly thereafter, and stubborn flames lasted until about noon. The steeple collapsed at 12:13 p.m. as firefighters hosed down hot spots, Kennedy said.

Both Stefanakis and Brace were family men and veterans of the fire department with extensive experience in battling the kind of intense blaze that killed them, said Joe King, president of Fire Fighters Union Local 1. Brace started with the department in 1973 at a station in Manchester, while Stefanakis spent much of his career, beginning in 1972, working Downtown.

King and Stefanakis fought several fires together and Stefanakis always watched out for him, King said.

"There was no hesitation in the man," King said. "If you were going in, he would go in behind you. He was never one to step away from a risky situation."

Stefanakis and Brace were the first Pittsburgh firefighters to die in the line of duty in the 21st century.

Not since June 17, 1999, had a city fireman died while fighting a blaze. That day, 50-year-old Paul McGrath suffered a heart attack as he and dozens of other firefighters swarmed over the old St. John General Hospital in Brighton Heights. Later, investigators ruled the fire an arson and arrested two teenagers.

At that time, no city firefighters had died on the job since three were trapped inside a burning house in Brushton on Valentine's Day 1995.

Killed in that blaze, which also was ruled an arson, were Thomas Brooks, 42, Patricia Conroy, 43, and Marc Kolenda, 27. They died of smoke inhalation after their air tanks ran out.

As the fire raged at Ebenezer yesterday, church members and Hill District residents were pulled to the scene at 2001 Wylie Ave. They hugged friends and relatives who also had come to mourn a church that many began attending as children with their parents and grandparents.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Firefighters work to extinguish the fire at Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Hill District yesterday. Click photo for larger image.

Losing the church was a blow for the community because it gave the area so much, including a Head Start program, and a place for Alcoholics Anonymous and a Boy Scout troop to meet, said Hill District resident Tawanda Moye.

At least the fire started early enough that none of the children had arrived who were supposed to begin a program at 10 a.m. to celebrate black heritage, she said.

"The devil stepped in, but God said, 'Not my children,' " Moye said.

Jeriel Stirkey, 71, has been attending the church since he was an infant and has served as a deacon for the past 20 years. He left about 11 a.m., after fire had engulfed most of the building and destroyed the roof but before the steeple fell on the firefighters.

"After the roof fell in, I couldn't stand to watch it anymore," Stirkey said. "It was a heartbreaking thing to watch."

Church leaders said they intend to rebuild, although insurance will only partially cover the loss of the building, which county property records show was worth $372,100 in 2003.

"We have a stake in this community, so there's a 100 percent chance it's going to be rebuilt in this same spot," said the church's pastor, the Rev. Dr. J. Van Alfred Winsett.

The church's accountant, he said, was trying to determine the amount of insurance on the 2,500-member church, which he said was built in 1873 as the Third Presbyterian Church and was purchased by its current owners in 1906. The church was rebuilt after a fire gutted it Jan. 7, 1976.

Until a new church can be built, the 900 or so parishioners who regularly attend services each week at Ebenezer will worship at the Hillcrest Seventh Day Adventist Church at 2340 Wylie Ave. That church is a good match for the long term, Winsett said, because its members worship on Saturday while his worship on Sunday.

"Most of the churches in this area opened their doors to us, but we needed something that would be more permanent," he said.

The church's administrative offices likely will be moved to the Hill House at 1835 Centre Ave., Winsett said.

Winsett and about 25 other church members were inside Ebenezer when the fire broke out. They all got out safely.

Most of the parishioners had gathered in a room near the front of the church for a prayer breakfast held by The Order of the Eastern Star. About 8:45 a.m., they had just brewed a pot of coffee when a woman noticed the electrical socket the pot was plugged into was smoking. She called over William McClendon, the church's accountant.

He then looked over his shoulder and saw that the breaker box on a nearby wall was burning as well. He told parishioners to evacuate and then ran into Winsett's office, telling the pastor to call 911.

As members left the church, McClendon could see smoke curling up from the door to the basement.

"When I opened that door, all that smoke just hit me in the face," he said.

Firefighters arrived shortly after 9 a.m. and began battling the heavy blaze. Other fire crews arrived as the number of alarms increased.

Firefighters had trouble locating the source of the fire, so commanders called in a third alarm.

About 9:25 a.m. firefighters were told to get out of the building because the fire was spreading so quickly, but a sudden flash of flame blew out the front door and the church's stained-glass windows before they could get away.

The force of the explosion knocked one firefighter off a ladder, possibly breaking his wrist, and burned four others who were standing near the church's front door, according to Micheli, the fire chief.

A few minutes later, a fourth alarm was called and by 10 a.m. the fire had consumed the roof and was eating through the church's heavy timbers. More than 75 firefighters battled the flames -- which at times reached into the church's steeple, high above the area where McClendon had noticed the burning breaker box -- for several hours before bringing it under control.

Just after noon, they had turned hoses on some of the remaining hot spots in the building when the tall steeple collapsed. Bricks, stone blocks and charred timbers thundered down onto nearly two dozen firefighters inside and outside the building, according to Kennedy.

The rubble buried Brace and Stefanakis, whose body was recovered near the building's vestibule about 4:30 p.m. Brace was recovered from the church's basement about 5 p.m.

At least 27 injured firefighters were taken to hospitals. Five were in critical condition last night with head and chest injuries, according to Kennedy. Nine others also were admitted to hospitals, and the rest were treated and released, according to emergency room officials.

Many of those firefighters' colleagues worried from afar as they prepared to march in Downtown's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

King, the firefighters union president, said the marchers could see the heavy smoke from the fire and knew it was bad because the smoke was dark."When the smoke is white, the fire is under control," King said.

As they marched, they kept in contact with officers on the scene. About 12:30 p.m., when they learned the steeple had fallen, many of those who'd been in the parade rushed up to the church to help in the rescue.

Jorge Myers, a Hill District artist whose sister worships at Ebenezer, was watching the fire from less than a block away, near the intersection of Wylie and Devilliers Street.

Several firefighters outside were looking up when the steeple fell, but they couldn't react fast enough to get away, he said.

"People were screaming, 'The walls are coming down,' " he said. "They put their arms up like they were going to shield themselves from the bricks, but it just buried them."

'They put their arms up like they were going to shield themselves from the bricks, but it just buried them.'