Union firefighter memorial preview

A busy Friday in Colorado Springs Memorial Park, to get ready for a solemn Saturday. Hundreds will gather for to honor those who gave their lives in the line of duty at the Union Fallen Firefighter Memorial. 154 new names will be added to the memorial.

Among those is James Rice. He was with the Peabody Fire Department near Boston. He died on the job in December. Captain Jay Dowling told me this is an emotional weekend for the Peabody firefighting family, “Just thinking about Jim. Good times, the memories we had together. It’s a sad day, but it’s a also a celebration of life.” Captain Dowling also told me a little about Jim, “He was a great guy, a family man, fun to be around and loved his wife and kids. Everyone loved him.”

Captain John Hosman with the Peabody Fire Department tells me, “It’s overwhelming to be honest with you. I’m going to be reading Jim’s name so it’s important to me that I can have a big part of the ceremony and read Jim’s name.” I also asked Captain Hosman about the link all firefighters have to this memorial and to help others, no matter who needs the help and where they have to go, to do it. The Waldo Canyon wildfire is fresh on the minds of Southern Colorado. He told me, “If they called us for help in Massachusetts, we would have sent guys to help out.”

Colorado Springs firefighter/paramedic Jeremy Kroto says, “It makes us feel very prideful of the fire service and my profession. It’s amazing to know you can meet someone from across the country and Canada. We do the same work and we would drop everything if we needed to help our brothers and sisters at a moments notice.” Kroto also wanted to put the memorial service in perspective with the outpouring of support for first responders since the Waldo Canyon wildfire. He said, “We appreciate all the support we’ve gotten from the community since the fire. However we want to keep the focus on the families honoring their loved ones who’ve been placed on the wall.”

2700 names are on the Union Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Colorado Springs. These are names of those who’ve died on the job from 1976 to the present. The future of this memorial could include even more past names stretching back to 1918 when the International Association of Fire Fighters Union was first founded. Saturday’s memorial service starts at 1 p.m.