Christmas Eve remains a difficult day for first responders and will always for those in Webster, where five years ago, a deranged man lit his house on fire with the intent to kill firefighters.

Mike Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka, volunteers with the West Webster Fire Department, were among those who responded early on the morning of December 24, 2012 to Lake Road, where smoke rose up and drifted over Irondequoit Bay.

In the early morning light, people in Rochester and across the nation watched in horror as seven homes burned down and officers were held back. The police chief struggled to remain composed while announcing devastating news. Four firefighters were shot. Kaczowka and "Chip," one of his lieutenants, were pronounced dead at the scene.

“For the people that were there that morning, it may be five minutes old to them. They remember vividly what it was like down there," said Al Sienkiewicz, West Webster Fire Department.

A road sign with Chiapperini and Kaczowka's badge numbers, 197 and 435, now stands along Lake Road.

“We won’t forget. Trust me, but those signs help the public not to forget what happened down there," said Sienkiewicz. "They say time heals. I don’t believe that. Time makes the details fuzzier, but I don’t think it really heals.”

A woman's body was later found in the rubble of a burned-out house. It was the sister of William Spengler Jr., who set the fire as a trap to lure in firefighters and shoot at them.

Spengler died of a self-inflicted gunshot. A convicted felon, Spengler had previously served time for killing his grandmother. Since he could not purchase firearms legally, the woman who bought the guns used in the ambush, Dawn Nguyen, was convicted of falsifying business records and sentenced to prison.