The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
(TNS)
Jul. 1—Every American flag on the interstate from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene was lowered to half-staff, waving in the wind, as a formal procession for two Idaho firefighters killed in the line of duty passed by Tuesday.
Around 300 first responders from agencies across the region, their families and community members lined the streets to honor Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Frank Harwood and Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Battalion Chief John Morrison, who were shot and killed Sunday while responding to a wild fire near Coeur d'Alene. The fallen firefighters and their loved ones were headed to Coeur d'Alene's English Funeral Chapel from the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office.
"It's unbelievable ... to see this level of support is overwhelming," Spokane Valley Battalion Chief John Leavell said, his voice breaking.
Members of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue and the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department appeared to have their own private opportunities to bid farewell to the fallen battalion chiefs from their ranks, with dozens of members filing into the back of the medical examiner's office and exiting around 10 minutes later. Somber music played by a man with bagpipes echoed around the medical examiner's building. Those present shook hands, embraced and consoled one another.
"Something like what happened the other day, there is no level of training to prepare for that," Leavell said. "It gives everybody some pause. It could've been any one of us."
After an hour and a half of filing down the interstate, with hundreds of people paying their respects on the overpasses, the ambulance carrying one of the slain firemen pulled in and parked at the funeral home. The driver covered his eyes and dropped his head.
As seven first responders removed one coffin draped in an American flag from a Kootenai County ambulance, the sound of bagpipes again filled the air. Another coffin was removed from a hearse and wheeled into the funeral home, as people, presumably the firefighters' families, stood beside and watched.
Citizens wearing Kootenai County Fire and Rescue shirts covered their mouths as they sobbed, and firefighters hugged each other without words. Silence filled the air as people stood by waiting to find their loved ones and friends in the crowd again after the procession. It remained quiet outside, besides the sound of passing cars.
"I love you, dude," one firefighter said to another.
A different firefighter approached his friend and asked if he was OK. The two nodded in silence as one wiped tears from his face.
Spokane resident Jill Delaney said it was important to her to show her support to the victims' families and the region's first responders, which is why she brought her flag off her front porch to wave across the street from the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office. She expected a large turnout because the Inland Northwest is such a tight-knit community.
" Spokane to Coeur d'Alene, we're all in this together, and we're all mourning," Delaney said. "I wanted whoever was showing up today to know that we were in this together and we support them. This was my part, and I know people will take it over on I-90, and Coeur d'Alene will have it on their end."
While dozens of fire trucks, police vehicles and ambulances took to the partially blocked-off interstate, those on the overpasses held American flags. Others held their loved ones.
Amanda Knutson, who stood on the Argonne Road overpass, said her husband works for law enforcement in Spokane County. She hoisted her 4-year-old son Ollie onto her shoulders to watch the emergency vehicles pass.
"He had to be here," Knutson said of Ollie. "He's been making his own processions with his Hot Wheels cars."
Sylvia Passe joined friend Carol Snyder, both of Spokane Valley, to show support for the fallen firefighters. She joined the crew of first responders and civilians on the Argonne Road overpass.
"We just wanted to show our respect. It just makes me want to cry," said Passe, who is a U.S. Marine veteran and volunteer for the University SCOPE office. "I wish we weren't here, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
Jeremy Snider was at a job site on Tuesday when he learned the procession was coming through. He brought his 9-year-old son Nolan to watch.
The Sniders live at the base of Canfield Mountain near where the fire and shooting took place in Coeur d'Alene.
"We were at the lake on the boat. We ran home to get some stuff. That's when everything started to go down," Snider said. "I got home just before they shut the streets down. It's a super scary deal."
The father and son joined the crowd at Nolan's request.
"I came to see what it was all about," Nolan said, "and to support the firefighters and policemen."
Snider said it was important to have his son witness the event.
"We came to support law enforcement and shed a few tears," he said.
Jerry McCoury, 69, works for Fire District 10 support services. He joined his fellow firefighters, who all wore black bands over their badges and saluted on Tuesday as the hearses rolled underneath on I-90 headed east.
"We are out there trying to do something for people who need help," McCoury said. "You don't expect this to happen. Now, you are always looking over your shoulder."
At the overpass on Thor Street, over 100 people lined the west sidewalk, some holding small and large American flags. A Spokane Fire Department ladder truck that was parked on the curb extended its ladder toward the blue sky and hung an enormous American flag at the top of the ladder. Firefighters dressed in navy blue shirts and pants stood on top of the truck and saluted as the procession went by.
Almost continuous supportive honks from drivers passing by on the interstate below and rang out on Thor Street before the procession passed.
Devony Audet and her 12-year-old daughter Anastasia were among the supporters on the overpass.
Audet called the fatal shooting on Canfield Mountain devastating.
"These men served our communities sacrificially," Audet said. "And any tragedy is awful, but when it's people who served so selflessly, it's just, really, like an extra layer of devastation."
Audet, of Spokane, said it was great to see the turnout, especially in a polarized era. She said it's important for communities to come together in good and bad times.
"It's great to see that we still have so much in common," she said. "I think often times we focus on what divides us, but if we spent more time realizing there's so much more that unites us, I think it'd really benefit society."
Shelley Storey Desmet was holding a big American flag she pulled off her Spokane home. She said the horn honking gave her "goose bumps."
"It's horrendous," she said of the shooting. "It is so sad."
Besides honoring Morrison and Harwood, she said she hoped the support from residents showed firefighters are loved more than they understand.
"We're with you," she said.
Sheena Bryant stuck a small American flag in the chain-link fence on the overpass. She lives in Spokane but was born and raised in Coeur d'Alene.
She said she was furious about the tragic events on Canfield Mountain and wanted to show her 8-year-old son, Jamison Bryant, donned in red, white and blue shorts and a red shirt, the significance of supporting first responders. She said she wasn't sure what was going to make her cry more — the supporters on the overpass or watching the fallen firefighters "go home."
"It's a good community," Bryant said of Coeur d'Alene. "And we need to stick together."
Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Chris Way and Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Chief Tom Greif thanked the community for its support in a news release Tuesday.
"As Fire Chiefs you never fully understand, appreciate or can define community support until you see it," the fire chiefs wrote in the release. "Today we saw and understood community support! The process of laying our fallen heroes to rest took another step forward today with the formal processional from the Medical Examiner's office in Spokane back to Coeur d'Alene. This important tradition allowed the families and our firefighters to remember and honor the incredible husbands, fathers, men and leaders that they were."
The chiefs said not one overpass, exit, street or parking lot was empty during the 40-mile procession.
"Our incredible communities showed their respect with signs, flags, waves and cheers," they said. "To say we felt the love would be an understatement! Please know this and all of the other incredible displays of the affection you have for YOUR first responders is second to none and it does not go unnoticed."
For a group of women waiting for the slain firefighters to arrive at the English Funeral Chapel & Crematory, their presence was about hope and prayer. In some ways, they said, God will work to help heal the community, but the hurt won't go away.
"We are praying for firefighters, for law enforcement, for their brothers and sisters. We know God works to the good in all things, and he will work to the good in this. We are praying he will bring revival to the community," said Patty Breuchaud, who has lived in Coeur d'Alene for 50 years.
When a tragedy happens in North Idaho, people tend to focus on the area's past incidents of hate, the women said , but not their pain.
"We are not like they have us portrayed. We are not them. Just like every community, we have bad people," said Renee Coffeen, who was also awaiting the firefighters' arrival. "We are bigger, and the community's voice is bigger than that right now."
The women shed a few tears as they gestured to the firetruck parked at the funeral home.
"They are heroes," Coffeen said. "This will never leave us."
People and emergency vehicles line the Argonne Road bridge over Interstate 90 on Tuesday as the procession approaches carrying the bodies of two firefighters killed Sunday in Coeur d'Alene.
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