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fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. yeah, this is pretty good. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. thousands of their commrads from around the state have come to two fallen firefighters about to be laid to rest today. thousands of their comrades from all around the state, in fact, out of the country have come to pay their respects. anne makovec is live at st. mary's cathedral where funeral services for the two men are just about to get under way.

anne. and the outpouring of support is amazing. you can see thousands of people lining up here at the entrance of st. mary's cathedral here on gough and geary in san francisco. thousands of people, firefighters from all over the area, citizens, people from other sectors of public safety, you can see the big american flag being held up by two ladder trucks waiting for for the procession as two fire trucks bring the bodies of vincent perez and firefighter- paramedic anthony valerio to st. mary's. they took off from daly city dugan's mortuary at about 11:15 and they are on the way here set to arrive just at 12:30 to begin the mass, expected to be about 2.5 to three hours. some of the speakers include san francisco mayor ed lee as well as the fire chief and the brother of anthony valerio. so it's certainly going to be

an emotional tribute. the fact that so many people came out is warming hearts and offering a little consolation. >> the church holds 2400 a lot of people watching it on video? they have an overflow room as well at the church? they have a couple of overflow rooms. a lot of people want to be here and show support for the community and the department. >> just being there absolutely amazing. we'll be obviously keeping a prized of the situation. you can stay right where you are if you are at home and you want to see the services we'll have all that as our special live coverage continues. >> go right to cbssf.com, too, if you would like to follow us on the web. we'll be right back. stay right there. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

- for two san francsico firefighters, killed in the line of duty. it's expect a final nair wealth for two san francisco firefighters killed in the line of duty. these are they are on the way to the st. mary's cathedral in san francisco. >> it's the largest funeral in years. more than 6,000 firefighters turning out at st. mary's cathedral this afternoon. one of the firefighters that's joining us is lieutenant vincent -- actually, lieutenant vincent perez and, uhm, the firefighter the other firefighter killed, uhm, anthony valerio will be laid to rest amid many friends coming from around the world around the bay area and around the state. one of those firefighters with us is bill we had toy a

veteran. thank you for take time. it's an emotional day for firefighters all over. >> the nice thing is that i'm hopefully going to be able to bring some information to the people who are part of these somber events. >> over the years we have had to create protocols for this type of incident so things can -- they basically have probably a book or i know in vallejo we have a what to do book for -- in a case of a funle. >> so we saw the cross ladders with the american flag. >> that's part of this whole protective custody col. that's standard. the aerial ladders with the american flag, the fire trucks carrying usually the engine companies that they were assigned to or maybe they are assigned to a certain engine for most of their career and that's, you know, what they would have wanted. they strip the hose off the

engine and place the casket in the back of the engine. it's a lot of emotion. they want to make sure they penalty the person and that's the way at they take them to the church and the funeral. we want to go live to mac mag at st. mary's cathedral in the city where the services are just about to start. >> yeah. you mentioned the dignitaries, kent. we are expecting the governor to be here as well as gavin newson. and the thousands of people here standing behind me all lined up at thens transnow to st. mary's cathedral just an amazing outpouring of people from all over the country, fellow firefighters, police officers, nurses. just a real testament to the brother and sisterhood of public servants. we want to show you the

procession that began earlier at about 11:15 this morning. it began in daly city at dugan's moreture rarery. the two caskets draped with flags being carried out into the fire truck from the moreture -- vincent perez and anthony valerio. some of the firefighters were calling them tony and vinnie beloved in the department. and the mass of course is set to start at 12:30. some of the speakers that will be talking about these guys, san francisco mayor ed lee, anthony valerio's brother mark and fire chief joanne hayes- white as well as some of their partners, some of the people that really knew them very well. and i got a real good indication of what these guys were like earlier from the president of the firefighters union. here's what he had to say. >> reporter: they were the odd

couple. tosh any was aen to -- ponytailed hippie free spirit traveler and they came together as a two, two of the most different guys in the world went in together and left this world together. they did it side by side. they were right next to each other when they were found. so they stood together as a team. it was very moving to hear that. >> both firefighters of course from engine company 26 in the diamond heights neighborhood. that engine company very well represented here today as well as i mentioned firefighters from all over the western united states. and other firefighters from other departments now taking care of the duties of a lot of the local firefighters who wanted to be here today. so just another kind of show of people being willing to step in and make sure that this final tribute is paid with the utmost respect. >> so a lot of people stepping in to pick up the slack as you mentioned. a lot of firefighters there and i think we'll pull back at some point and show you how many

firefighters are lined up at st. mary's. it's an amazing outpouring. thank you very much, anne. >> ken, interesting, when we were having a little meeting prior to this you said anthony valerio, you went to high school with this guy. >> did i. >> and you knew him as tony so when they said anthony, do i know this guy? they just said it's tony and vinnie. >> en to and a valerio was a classmate of mine. we graduated together in high school. sweet guy, just the nicest guy you would ever want to meet and your going to be hearing that and his family is an amazing family, lots of brothers and sisters. and they have been in the bay area for long, long time. th' crushed as we all are. when i heard his name, it's a double-take. you don't keep contact with that many people after high school. i did bump into him at a couple

of fires over the years and we kind of waved at each other and laugh and that kind of thing. just a tragedy and for the lieutenant perez, also. these were such great guys and the loss is going to be felt by so much. >> lieutenant perez, talk about giving of oneself. his brother is a san francisco police officer, his other brother is an oakland police officer. he was a sheriff in the alameda county sheriff's department before coming over here for the last 21 years. >> talk about dedication. >> i should say. a man that grew up in san francisco and, you know, is saying good-bye as well right here in the city. >> yeah. joining us today for our coverage is firefighter bill tweedy. we were talk earlier. you have 27 years of doing this. and before that, you were a police officer, as well. you were law enforcement. >> started off as a police officer in vallejo and then went to the fire department and was there for 27 years. >> and your family has that tradition. what is it about all these families that get involved in

this? >> i think it's just one part of a mold that people are in that it's what you're made of. and that's what you're destined to do. we're here to protect and serve the public however we can. sometimes it ends up in one of us losing our lives. >> that's a shame. you mentioned though when we were talk earlier, public service and that whole idea. you said to me, when you're in public service and your family's in public service, it's a way of life. >> yeah. i had -- in my household, my family had a daughter and my wife, and they had a routine that they would do when i was at work, they would have a routine that they would do when i was at home. we would be at work for two days straight or sometimes four days straight depending on the situations. and they would have, you know, their own little things that they would do. it happens in public safety all the time. the families have to do things without the -- whoever is in

the public safety, the man or the woman. >> that's an excellent point because often think of just the law enforcement personnel or the firefighting personnel but it's the whole family. the whole family gets caught up in that because their lifestyle changes so drastically. >> they realize that there are going to be times when you're not there for christmas, you're not there for thanksgiving, you're not there for birthdays or special occasions, anniversaries. >> but you actually probably spend more time with the firemen than you really do with your own family sometimes, right? >> sometimes it would work out to where i'd be at the station for four days straight and then i'd be home for two days. >> well, on that same vein, i know a lot of the san francisco firefighters if not all of them obviously want to attend today so a lot of firefighters from surrounding bay area communities have come in with their engines and manpower and they are now stationed in a lot of the stations around the city and that's where kiet do is now at station 7, where i guess some firefighters from hayward

and other communities are helping out. i understand they have already gone to work, is that right? >> reporter: yes. some have come back but yes, we're here at station 7 in san francisco but check this out. this purple colored engine here says that they are from hayward. we have seen units from el cerrito and from cds, as well. so these guys are coming from as far north as napa, as far east as fremont, as far south as san jose and they were on a fire just a little while ago but they are back. we have footage from station 26 where the two fallen firefighters are from. they were wearing dress blues and riding their own fire engine to the funeral service today, very somber. they locked that station down. you can see a lot of teddy bears and mementos of people sending their warm wishes, as well. many of the men and women here in san francisco are from other agencies. they are here a lot of them on their own time as va tears. we talked to one is your firefighter who told me that getting paid to run into a burning building is one thing but very thankful that a lot of

these guys are here doing it for free. so the fire department is confident that they will respond to all the calls in a timely manner. as far as these guys not being familiar with the twists and turns and the hilly streets of san francisco, they have been told to drive slowly and drive together. the best guesstimate as to how many of these out of town firefighters, somewhere in the neighborhood of several hundred. back to you. >> amazing. kiet do live in san francisco, and he is going to stay out there as well for us this afternoon. bill, you were referring to earlier some of the traditions, some of the protocol and we're seeing that right now. thousands attending today's funeral. you have the two engines there. the cast sets are loaded aboard and they are preparing i guess the honor guard to take into st. mary's cathedral. >> the paul bearers will come up to the engine and they will gracefully pull the two caskets

off the engines and go through all the firefighters are going to be -- lined on each entryway of the church at full attention and saluting as the caskets go by. request you look at something like that, that could be somebody you -- >> when you look at something like that that could be somebody you know or personalitily yourself our best friend and you don't know when that's going to happen. we came into this profession knowing that that could happen. we hope it never does. but too often any more than it does happen. >> sad lit fire that took the life of these two men -- sadly, the fire that took the life of these two men was a house fire. you don't know. it was a single family residence. the back had two stories below. the fire was in one of the

lower back stories of the house. it was an electrical fire according to preliminary report. a lot of people don't realize how fast the fires can get going and how little it takes to get them going inside your house. >> and small indications, these are very veteran, very experienced people that went into that building. two really experienced firefighters. >> yeah. and like the president of the local said, they were there together and that's -- we train to be together. we stay together as a team. if one person needs help, the sorry there. it just shows how much, you know, they go back on their training and they were together when this happened. >> we talked about it a little bit but i'm always fascinated and may seed athe how quickly these -- the funeral gets organized and the protocol where all the firefighters from all around the country know where to go and what to do.

>> there are guidelines, in books that we keep and we have ways to -- the way to do it. the san francisco fire department they sent out multiple press releases for the agencies throughout the country of what was going to happen what the timeline was, where to stage. everything is spelled out to you before you even get here. now what's going to happen. >> let me show you live pictures from st. mary's cathedral, the flag-draped coffins being unloaded from the fire truck and how many hours the two men spent working every day on those rigs. it's kind of a fitting tribute that they are delivered to the church that way. >> well, the crews that they work with would have it no other way. it's a final tribute to them.

the most respectful way to show how they care for them. they will take everything they will do is going to be for those two fallen brothers. >> i