BOSTON (CBS) – A moving remembrance ceremony was held Sunday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Vendome Hotel fire, which claimed the lives of nine Boston firefighters.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Kim Tunnicliffe reports.

The 1972 blaze was the worst firefighting tragedy in the city’s history.

One-by-one, the names of the Vendome Nine were read aloud as family members placed wreaths in front of the Granite Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue.

(Photo Credit: Kim Tunnicliffe/WBZ NewsRadio 1030)

Fire Commissioner Paul Christian told the crowd that the nine died doing what they loved.

“They gave their all. They were loyal, dedicated, and the department was their second family,” said Christian.

Dist. Chief Rick McGee lost his father in the hotel fire. Sunday’s remembrance was the first time he got to meet the now-retired firefighter Charlie Seaboyle, who pulled his father’s body out of the building that day.