The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A cloudless sky welcomed thousands of uniformed first responders from across the United States and Canada Saturday for the 29th annual Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Memorial Park.
While the blaring bagpipes, rhythmic beating of bass and snare drums and tolling of bells to honor those who died was not different from last year’s event, the 2015 International Association of Fire Fighters memorial service also showcased its new monument.
Kim Gore, who traveled from the St. Louis area, had never been to the memorial before.
Her father, Howard Crider died from a heart attack in 1977 after fighting a fire on Thanksgiving Day. His name was added to the wall in 1987, she said.
“It’s amazing,” Gore said before the ceremony. “I’d seen pictures, but it’s nothing like it is in real life.”
The memorial was remodeled and 3,830 names were added to its granite walls in honor of firefighters and paramedics who died between Feb. 28, 1918 - the union’s founding - and Dec. 31, 1975. Before, the names of those who died in 1976 and later were listed at the monument, which includes people who died in active firefights or from job-related illnesses. A total of 7,352 names are etched into the walls of the new memorial, which took 10 months and $3.5 million to complete.
Union general president Harold Schaitberger, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and Justin Koch, president of the Colorado Springs IAFF spoke to the crowd between interludes from the Colorado Springs Chorale.
Among the pomp and circumstance around the unveiling of the new monument were moments of sadness and silence. Two bells were rung after each of the 310 firefighters and paramedics names were read at the event, which lasted almost three hours. Flags were presented in honor of those who died and firefighters wore black bands over their badges.
Chris Bruno, a fire captain based in Fresno, Calif. was there in support of 11 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, members honored at the ceremony. It’s been a busy year for firefighters such as Bruno, as thousands of fires have burned across Canada and the United States.
“There’s been little relief as far as family time,” he said.
When he returns to California on Monday, Bruno said he will"be going right back to work.”
Firefighters carrying the flags representing the local unions of each of the men and women honored marched out of the memorial grounds at the end of the ceremony. Some attendees lingered at the granite walls to take photos and make rubbings of a name on a piece of paper.
John Robida was standing by a row of names that were not at the memorial last year.
His father Joseph, a Pueblo firefighter, was responding to a call when he was killed in a traffic crash in April 1945. Robida, 79, said he waited decades for his father’s name to be placed on the wall and was happy to finally see it there.
“I thought before I die I’d like to see this done,” Robida said. “They did it. It’s a good feeling.”
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