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 took a walk after the morning show this morning, live over near market and powell and saw three or four of the trucks that were lined up, one from kern county, one from long

beach, the other l.a. county. and it was 8:00 in the morning. the men were dressed in their dress blues shining the trucks, cleaning them up after driving from so far away. and i talked to them about it. that's what it's about showing our respect and making sure everything is spot on clean and perfect for these two firefighters today. >> you know, it's just part of what we are and how we do things, as one big family. firefighters throughout the united states and even throughout the world you can go anywhere and be welcome as a firefighter in other places. >> we are talking a little bit about coverage and how all this got organized. i think it's important for viewers to note that all of the stations, all of the television radio station in the bay area have all cooperated in terms of coverage. this is all pool coverage. there is nobody trying to ace anybody out on any camera angles or shots. all this was agreed to ahead of

time and planned out. that's just another sign of the respect that i think all the media agencies have for the work that public servants like this do. and you can rest assured that there are you know -- there are going to be definite rules that are going to be adhered to in terms of the coverage today. we are not going to have anybody inside the church. you will see pictures inside but reporters are respect the families' wishes to remain outside. you know, where anne was positioned there, that's an area that's cordoned off. all of this is in the same vein sort of just our way of saying, we respect what you do and we want to cooperate and do this in a respectful way. the second could have been off the truck and being prepared by

pallbearers, as they will move into the cathedral. >> it holds 2500. it haso be busting at the seams. >> they have a room that holds 400 or 500 downstairs so people can see it and listen to it. there is another cathedral in town that actually is going to have a live video feed at sacred heart cathedral. so people can see it over there. >> if you can't make it to either of those venues, you're more than welcome to watch it with us here on cbs 5. we'll have continuing coverage this afternoon of all the events. ♪ [ music ] [ bagpipes ] >> that's another tradition that's just when you hear that, you know it's serious business. >> yeah. >> police and fire funerals... almost always have the

bagpipes. they are just a big part of the tradition that we have. i have never been at one -- i can't remember that they didn't have them. the last one i remember is when we were in marin county for the firefighter that died in southern california. >> you know, interesting story about the bagpipes. one of the guys in that group right there we have interviewed, as part of a news story, and he explained to me the history of the bagpipes thing with all of the funerals and stuff of police and fire. and the bagpipes are from europe. many of the firefighters that came to the united states during the formation especially of the san francisco and the west coast, play the bagpipes. so we'll listen now. ♪ [ music ] [ bagpipes ]

now we can see the families beginning to follow the caskets into church and it's got to be gut-wrenching to go through this when a loved one dies in this way to have to deal with this thing. it's an ultimate sign of respect but also just has to be tearing the heart out of these people. >> i can't even imagine what the families are feeling. i do know that the firefighters within san francisco or within the bay area, anybody that knew the family, they have reached out and, you know, are helping them in every way they can. just everything from helping them get to places or bringing them food, or just being there for support. it is one beg family and it always seems to come down to that. >> you guys as firefighters are

families. but the families, the extended families of these men, they come down to the firehouses, the kids come down. you're all one big family when it comes to that. >> oh, yeah. there's -- if somebody's son or daughter needed something or something happened and let's say i was at work my daughter needed something, somebody would do whatever needed to be done that needed to be taken care of. it's just a phone call. you get somebody taking care of something for you. that's just, you know, the way of the firefighters. we're there to be together and work together. we always work together in the stations. we work together out of the stations.

and firefighter anthony valerio.. killed battling a fire in the city's

♪[ music ] [ church organ ]

♪[ music ] [ church organ ]