Boston Fire Lt. Ed Walsh, a Watertown native, was killed fighting a fire in the Back Bay on March 26. Photo by Boston Fire Dept.
A radio report on the fire that killed two Boston firefighters, including Watertown native Ed Walsh, won a national award, and was made by a local man.
WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman – who lives in Watertown – won first place in the PRNDI (Public Radio News Director Incorporated) Awards in the Nationally Edited Breaking News category.
His story, “Two Boston Firefighters Die In Nine-Alarm Blaze,” chronicled the deadly Back Bay fire that killed Boston Fire Lt. Ed Walsh and Firefighter Michael Kennedy in March 2014. Listen to the story by clicking here.
While Walsh worked in Boston, he was laid to rest and honored in his hometown of Watertown with great fanfare. Thousands of firefighters gathered in Watertown, shutting down Main Street for the wake and funeral (see photos here).
The PRNDI awards recognize excellent journalism produced in 2014 in new arts and sports feature categories as well as or multimedia, nationally edited, and student work. The competition received over 1,100 entries from public radio newsrooms across the country.
See the complete list of 130 awards by clicking here.
Gellerman has reported on other Watertown stories, including the Watertown Shootout with the Boston Marathon Bombers and subsequent manhunt, as well as the unsolved murder of a Watertown’s first female African-American Police Officer.
Bruce is an excellent reporter. I wish we had more like him in the American press!