More than a dozen firefighters who rushed into the burning furniture superstore knew - or thought they knew - two things: Employees were trapped inside, and the blaze was small enough to control. But within moments, flames swept across the warehouse, blowing out windows and eventually collapsing the roof in a twisted mass of brown steel. Nine men died in the nation's biggest loss of firefighters since 9-11.

THEIR STORIES "I lost nine of my best friends," Fire Chief Rusty Thomas said, choking back tears Tuesday. "To the families, you gave them to us, and we protected them as best as we could." To many of his fellow firefighters, Capt. Billy Hutchinson was more than just a veteran fire captain with three decades of service under his belt - he was also their barber.