Detroit Fire Department Senior Lieutenant Francis Dombrowski, a 29-year veteran of the department, is remembered by his friends and colleagues as an excellent firefighter and compassionate person.
Deputy Fire Commissioner Dave Fornell said the entire fire department is mourning the loss of “a great firefighter, a great leader and compassionate person.
“He’d be the first one to step up and help, whether it was a friend or stranger,” said Detroit Fire Department Lieutenant Dave Miller.
Dombrowski, 55, who passed is survived by his wife.
Miller and Dombrowski, a Detroit native, met 27 years ago and were at the same ladder, working on the same schedule, for years. They won a commissioner’s citation together for rescuing an unconscious resident in a house fire in 2010. Dombrowski won a medal of valor in 2018.
Miller described Dombrowski as an aggressive firefighter, he was “always the first one in and the last one out.”
“He was never good for a short phone call, always a long phone call,” Miller said. “I’m going to miss that”.