HUDSON FALLS, NY — On Saturday afternoon, they came by the hundreds to the scene of what was once the Parkview Hotel on Main Street, across from Juckett Park in Hudson Falls.
As the time inched closer to the planned memorial service for fallen Hudson Falls Volunteer Fire Company firefighter Paul MacMurray, who lost his life battling the raging Parkview blaze 25 years ago, a sea of firefighters in dress uniforms emerged, all there to honor their comrade, their friend.
With MacMurray’s family seated near the plaque dedicated in his honor, row after row of firefighters circled the seated family members, embracing them in their strength.
“Many of us here today stood on this very site 25 years ago, battling a raging fire that we never expected the outcome. So here we are today, keeping alive the memory of a brave friend and his ultimate sacrifice,” said Kip Grant, former Hudson Falls assistant fire chief and one of the speakers. “Every time the memory of this fire crosses my mind, I don’t think so much of the fire; I think of the guy that his pals called ‘Orville,’ his neverending sense of humor, the guy in the third row of my training classes with the impish grin.”
Since MacMurray’s death, Hudson Falls Assistant Chief John Santa Croce, who was chief at the time, has sent a letter to the members of the Hudson Falls Volunteer Fire Department each year in MacMurray’s memory, and the firefighters have placed flowers on his grave each Memorial Day.
But Saturday’s event was the first community-wide memorial at 138 Main St., the scene of the blaze, in 25 years, and many of the 28 fire companies who fought the 1994 fire came back to honor MacMurray, including Hudson Falls, Kingsbury, Fort Edward, Argyle, Cossayuna, Fort Ann, Hartford, Greenwich, Middle Falls, West Fort Ann, Bayview, Schuylerville, Washington County Bureau of Fire and Fort Edward and Moreau EMS.
“One team stretched a big two-and-a-half inch hand line through the hotel in an effort to confine and suppress the fire,” said Grant. “And at the same time, Paul and his partner, Tom, were assigned to one of the most dangerous but necessary jobs, to search for and evacuate occupants of the floor above the fire. An especially dangerous task. When they returned, conditions abruptly degraded, where their own survival became an instinct. With flashover (simultaneous combustion at multiple points in a room) upon them, they became separated.”
It was Aug. 27, 1994 that MacMurray lost his life at age 30, leaving behind a wife, children and other family members.
“For 11 years, Paul gave of himself on weekends, on frigid February nights and he selflessly gave of himself on a warm August evening 25 years ago, when he answered his last alarm,” Grant said. “I wonder what Paul would be wanting me to say today. Maybe how we shouldn’t be grieving, but focus instead on things that are being done to improve firefighter safety. Or to applaud those who continue to answer the call, putting community before self.”
During the event, the family was involved in two unveilings: One for a memorial street sign in MacMurray’s honor, and the other a memorial plaque placed in concrete at the scene of the blaze.
“As Paul’s Mom and on behalf of his family, we would like to thank all those who stood with us, prayed with us and cried with us,” said his mother, Sandra. “Thank you for your love, it meant a great deal to us. To all the firemen and emergency personnel … and to our own Hudson Falls Volunteer Fire Company, for your kindness to us.”
The MacBoston Fallen Firefighter Memorial, an old-style ladder truck with the names of all firefighters in the state killed in the line of duty, was also present for the ceremony.
“This is a dedication of fire service, for the firefighters who risk their lives,” Santa Croce said.
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