Topeka ? A group of Lawrence firefighters choked back tears Friday as they asked the state’s parole board not to release a man who set a 1986 fire that killed one of their colleagues.

“This happened 20 years ago, and the pain is still there. It still hurts,” said Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical Lt. Kathy Elkins, president of the local firefighters’ union.

But the mother and father of 41-year-old inmate David Winebrenner also appealed to the board, saying their son has been rehabilitated by spending nearly half of his life in prison for the death of firefighter Mark Blair. They say he’s been mentoring other inmates and teaching GED classes.

“David did a terrible thing. I don’t think there’s any question about that,” said his father, Douglas. “However, in the last 20 years I think David has done quite a bit to turn his life around.”

Winebrenner, then 21, set fire to his parents’ home on 3028 Rimrock Drive while they were sleeping inside. His father told the parole board that it was because he was angry about not being able to drive the family’s brand-new truck.

The Winebrenners escaped from the home unharmed, but a roof beam collapsed and killed 34-year-old Blair while he was inside searching for other occupants. Winebrenner received a life sentence after pleading no contest in October 1987 to first-degree murder, but he comes up for parole periodically.

Four current or former firefighters attended Friday’s hearing. They brought photos of Blair and the fire and passed them to the table of board members.

They said many more people were emotionally unable to be there, including Blair’s widow and two sons, one of whom he never met. Retired firefighter David Stoffer called the possibility that Winebrenner will be released “an insult to any public servant.”

Battalion Chief Doug Green described finding Blair’s body inside the home after seeing his arm sticking up through debris.

“This event personally made me leave the fire service for a short time,” he said. “I was lucky enough to come back because it’s a profession I really love. Mark doesn’t have the opportunity to come back.”

Douglas Winebrenner told the parole board Friday that before Blair’s death, he had informed emergency workers there was no one else inside the home.

The board, which is considering the case for the second time, will make a decision sometime this summer after a June 22 interview with Winebrenner at Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

Paul Feleciano, a former state lawmaker, is one of the board members charged with making the decision. Of the firefighters, he said, “I can understand the passion that they bring and why they would not like to see this individual released.”

He also said he was struck by the Winebrenners’ loyalty to their son, given that the fire apparently was an attempt to kill them.

“To see the parents … appear was shocking,” Feleciano said. “It’s just a reflection that no greater love has that individual than the parents’ love, in spite of the adversities.”