Joe Bou Saab

Joe is the eldest son of Elie Bou Saab and Joanne Zgheib. He was born in 1992, and grew up with his brother Peter and sister Elissa. Peter describes him saying: "Joe loved life, there would be smiles wherever he was."

He spent most of his life in Ain Remmene with his friend in life and death, Ralph Mallahi.

He graduated with a degree in business administration, and hoped to find a job that would match his impulsiveness and eagerness for helping others. Three years earlier, he joined the Beirut fire brigade, along with Ralph.

Joe was happy and always smiling. He was a great support to his parents, siblings, and friends. And most of the time, he would proudly share firefighting stories with his family…

However, on the ill-fateful August 4, Joe did not come home to his parents to tell them the story of the port fire!

On that day, he woke up early and went to work. He returned home on his lunch break to eat and rest for a while. He changed his clothes, said goodbye to his parents, and went back to work.

Joe arrived to the fire department around 5:00 PM, the team was just responding to the emergency call at the port. He parked his car, left his stuff inside it, and ran to join his teammates…

At 6:07 PM a huge explosion rocked the city, and Joe's family had a feeling their son died in the blast. His father and brother immediately went to the fire station, they found his stuff still in his car.

Joe was in a hurry… He was on a 24 hours' duty… He rushed to respond to the call of duty…

After the first explosion, firefighters stayed in place trying to extinguish the fire… Maybe if they ran away, they would have survived… but heroes don’t run….

Joe's family suffered from loss, anger, and broken hearts.

More than two weeks after the explosion, DNA tests confirmed remains found under the rubble belonged to Joe…