The ceremony opened with the procession of the Color Guard followed by the singing of the National Anthem. Harvey Eiser, Editor-In-Chief of Firehouse Magazine and the conference director for Firehouse Expo, presided over the ceremony. Following a prayer by Rev. English and a standing moment of silence for lost and injured firefighters. Eisner introduced Baltimore City Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr.
Chief Goodwin spoke of the great year that Baltimore City firefighters have had and called special attention to their involvement in the upcoming firefighter movie drama, Ladder 49. He introduced an action packed, fire filled video clip of the film that is due out sometime next year.
Following the sneak peak of Ladder 49, photographer David Handschuh presented photographs from the New York Daily News archives that chronicled eight decades of fire fighting. He said the photographs showed