Five kids being treated for burns at Shriners will get to see Game 1 of the World Series

Conor McGregorRonald Martinez

Five kids receiving treatment in Boston for severe burns will be in the stands for Game 1 of the World Series at Fenway Park Tuesday thanks to the Boston Fire Department and MMA star Conor McGregor.

The mixed martial artist and boxer arrived at the Engine 33 Ladder 15 firehouse on Boylston Street over the weekend to present firefighters with eight tickets to the first game of the championship series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, said Marc Sanders, spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.

McGregor wanted to show his appreciation for the fire department while he was in town promoting his new Irish whiskey label. McGregor chose to donate the tickets to the firefighters of the Back Bay firehouse because he knew that was where Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh Jr. and firefighter Michael R. Kennedy worked before they died battling a nine-alarm fire on Beacon Street in March 2014, Sanders said.

“It was very generous on his behalf to donate the tickets, but the firefighters felt it’d have a larger impact by turning it around and donating them to some children who wouldn’t normally have that opportunity,” Sanders said.

The firefighters decided to donate the eight tickets through the Boston Firefighters Burn Foundation to child burn victims who are currently receiving treatment here at Shriners Hospital for Children, Sanders said.

Kennedy was a board member at the foundation before he died, according to Dennis Costin, president of the foundation and head of special operations for the Boston Fire Department. The foundation, which is run entirely by firefighters, provides burn victims and their families with financial and emotional support.

Because of the severity of the children’s injuries, only those who are most physically capable of enduring nine cold innings at the game will be able to attend. Several hospital staffers will have to go with them, Costin said.

The individual patients who will attend the game have not yet been selected, but the foundation plans to send five patients and three nurses or physical therapists, Costin said.

The hospital and the patients are “very grateful that the firefighters chose to come around and donate the tickets,” Sanders said. “It’s something that they may not ever see.”