Marcelo Garcia III funeral: Houston community honors life of fallen firefighter killed while battling warehouse fire

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The funeral service for Marcelo Garcia III was held Wednesday, where hundreds of colleagues from across the state remembered him. He died in a collapse while fighting a warehouse fire last week.

Garcia was a captain who was described as a man anyone could count on. Born and raised in Houston, he graduated from high school and was a Houston firefighter for 10 years, most recently at Station 8.

Downtown streets closed Wednesday morning as hundreds of firefighters left Station 8 behind their fallen brother Garcia in a flag-draped casket, escorted by his family.

It was a somber walk to the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, where the 42-year-old will be buried exactly a week after the deadly warehouse fire.

“I’ll tell you what, the citizens have really shown their support,” said Capt. Sedrick Robinette of the Houston Fire Department.

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Healing is how Robinette describes the past seven dark days, thanks to Houstonians who reached out.

In the meantime, the investigation into what happened continues.

City records show that the warehouse was designated a “dangerous commercial building” earlier this year. But a city representative told ABC13 that when inspectors went to take a look, they determined that wasn’t the case. Instead, they said it was a “nuisance property.”

Records show that a case was opened to clear it within seven days. It was supposed to be completed a day before the deadly fire, but it wasn’t.

A fire damage inspection was scheduled for Wednesday. ABC13 attempted to contact the property owner but did not hear back.

Eyewitness News also asked HFD for a response to all of this.

“Every time we lose a brother in the line of duty, it’s hard to process. I’m not going to talk too much about the investigation,” Robinette said.

A woman has been arrested and charged with starting the fire. Investigators believe the intensity of the fire caused a wall to collapse on Garcia, killing him.

Garcia is the 83rd Houston firefighter to die in the line of duty.

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