(CNN) Just hours before a planned family vacation to Disney World, a veteran firefighter was killed early Wednesday when his ladder crew got trapped while searching for residents in a four-alarm fire, authorities in Worcester, Massachusetts, said.

Lt. Jason Menard, 39, was among the firefighters who responded to calls of a fire on the second floor of a multifamily home, with a baby possibly trapped on the third floor, his department said in a statement

"Lt. Menard heroically and selflessly saved his crew, helping a probationary firefighter to the stairs and then returning to rescue another trapped firefighter, assisting him out the window," fire Chief Michael Lavoie said.

But when fire overtook the third floor, Menard couldn't escape, his chief said. And his comrades couldn't reach him.

A married father of three, Menard and his family "had planned this morning to be on a trip to Disney," said Michael Papagni, president of Menard's firefighters' union, Local 1009. "They are now instead planning a hero's sendoff."

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