Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh Jr. and Firefighter Michael R. Kennedy lost their lives while fighting a nine-alarm Back Bay apartment fire on March 29, on Beacon Street. Trapped in the basement by flames fueled by up to 45-mile-per-hour winds, attempts to rescue them in time were unsuccessful.

According to authorities, Walsh, a 43-year-old married father of three young children, and Kennedy, a 33-year-old Marine Corps veteran, took actions that allowed firefighters to rescue a number of residents from the upper floors of the apartment building.

In a statement on that day, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said, “Our hearts are heavy with the knowledge that these brave men gave their lives to protect the safety of our city and its people,” he said. “A day like today makes us all too aware of what they are risking in the course of doing their jobs. They are heroes simply by virtue of accepting this duty.”

The Boston Firefighter’s Credit Union has created a fund to help support the families. Donations to the Lieutenant Walsh- Firefighter Kennedy Memorial Fund can be made by visiting the website of the Boston Firefighter’s Credit Union at BosFire CU.com. Donations can also be made by mailing checks to the Fund, in care of the Boston Firefighter’s Credit Union, 60 Hallet Street, Dorchester, MA 02124.