HEATHER CASEY
Firehouse.Com News
EMMITSBURG, Md -- "I'm third generation fire department, and we grew up with the term brotherhood," said Bob
Hopler of the Rockaway Borough Fire Department in NJ. "You hate to be here, but you never
want to leave the people. The sense of family is overwhelming."
Hopler has been coming back to serve as an escort at Memorial Weekend each year since 1997, when he came to honor his father.
Over 5,000 fire service personnel and family members came out to honor 104 of America's Bravest at the 19th annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service held on a bright and chilly day at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The fallen firefighters of 1999 came from 30 states and the District of Columbia, and ranged in age from 17 to 90.
The service is the culmination of activities held all weekend, including support sessions, a candlelight ceremony and a chapel service.
Hal Bruno, chair of the NFFF, said there are two main purposes to the weekend activities. "One is to honor our fallen firefighters, and equally important is to support their families and help them go forward into the future, and recover from the tragic loss they've suffered," he said. "Everything we do is aimed at helping the families."
Keynote speaker Dennis Smith, author and founder of Firehouse Magazine, said everyone present was part of a large and supportive group. Smith said that during his speech, "I wanted them to feel that they're now, after having been through this weekend, moving forward to create the most positive things that they can in their lives."
The service was opened by USFA board member Steve Robinson. "It's a mission of love and respect and a mission to make sure our loved ones are not forgotten," he said of the event.
After the posting of colors and National Anthem, James Lee Witt, director of FEMA, delivered a message from President Clinton, extending his sympathy and best wishes to the family members and coworkers.
"We are all safer because of their noble service," Clinton wrote. The honored firefighters "made the ultimate sacrifice so that others might live."
Witt thanked the families for sharing their loved ones. "We will keep you in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers," he said. "We hope that each day, in some way, we can continue the memory of those that have fallen."
During his introduction of Smith, Bruno noted that Smith's first book thirty years ago, "Report From Engine 82," inspired many to join the fire service, and that he has helped firefighters by creating the Foundation for the Health and Safety of Firefighters. "He has experienced the sadness that all of you have had to bear," Bruno said, " and knows what it's like to come through the darkness."
Smith said his greatest and proudest success has been as a regular firefighter, not as part of a small group of distinguished leaders.
"We are truly a group and togetherness is our byword," he said. "We are here to celebrate our memories…But today we are also going to try to find room in our lives for joy - for happiness.
"How do we get from being sad to happy?" he asked. "…It is courage that carries us all through… If we have been caught in a sea of grief, we will, because we know it is the right thing to do, find that wave of courage that will carry us on to the solid earth once again, and stabilize our footing."
"There is much yet to do," Smith said. "We'll be with you."
The name of each firefighter was read aloud and the families were presented with a flag and a rose from the Maltese cross from the earlier chapel service.
Gary Briese, executive director of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, was present at the service to honor the son of a friend.
"What [the ceremony] does for me is it makes me realize that unless we get serious about firefighter safety we're going to have a 1000 more [fallen firefighters] in the next ten years," he said.
Members of Frederick County, Md. Fire Rescue, who help out with these services in their county each year, had a new reason to attend this year.
They were remembering Terry L. Myers, of the Vigilant Hose Company of Emmitsburg, who died in February 1999 after suffering a heart attack at the scene of a brush fire.
The Friday of each memorial weekend they hold a pizza party for the people who have lost someone. "This can be a solemn weekend, so we try to put a little fun in," as well as help with transportation, said firefighter Stan Poole. "Obviously, this year we have the loss."
Helen Pellegrini, Chief of the 16-member Hawkins Bar Fire Department in Burnt Ranch, California, said the weekend activities were very helpful in dealing with the loss of Karen J. Savage, the first female firefighter lost to wildland firefighting. The two were best friends for 9 years, Pellegrini said.
"Karen was a unique person, and a heck of a firefighter/EMT," she said.
"This has helped me a lot," she said. "It's helped me to see other chiefs feel the same way I do. It really is a wonderful weekend for opening your eyes, knowing that they know what I'm feeling."
Savage's death was the first death or injury in the department in its 20 years of operation, Pellegrini said.
Vincent J. Fowler, former battalion chief and father of fallen firefighter Vincent G. Fowler of FDNY, said he has attended several memorial services since his son's death in June, 1999, and was glad this was the last.
"These events are not so much for the family as for the firefighters," he said. "The family doesn't need it, but the firefighters have to have this - they have to do this for their fellow firefighters."
Fowler, 45, died while getting a probationary firefighter out of a structure fire. Because of his outstanding community service, an elementary school in South Ozone Park was renamed after him.
There were over 125 Honor Guard units present this year, as opposed to the 40 units that came three years ago.
"They come at their own expense, from all over the country," said Mary Ellis of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. "It's the same with the escorts."
The numbers keep growing, Ellis said, because once may people attend, they like to come back year after year.
"It helps so much to talk to someone who has suffered a similar type loss," Ellis said. "We put people together and they do everything."
Firefighters Memorial Draws Thousands
