Five Colorado names among 123 added to wall Saturday at Fallen Firefighter Memorial

Families, friends and comrades enjoyed perfect weather Saturday for the 30th annual Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs.

Among the 123 names added to the wall were five Colorado firefighters, including Dale Boyd, of Colorado Springs.

Boyd, a 27-year veteran, died in 1994, six months after his retirement, of job-related cancer.

So why did it take so long for him to be inducted by the International Association of Firefighters?

“Well, to a certain extent, it was an oversight,” said Steve Cox, Boyd’s son-in-law and a former city official. “But as the criteria changed for submittals, he met that criteria and went on the wall today, and we’re glad for that.”

James Kittleson, of the Denver Fire Department, was inducted into the memorial three years after his death from job-related leukemia in 2013.

Last year, workplace cancer also claimed the lives of North Metro District’s Craig Moilanen, and Todd Johnson, of Breckenridge.

Firefighters said despite research, many of them continue to die from exposure to toxic substances in and around fires.

“In the old days, guys didn’t wear equipment or weren’t required to,” said Justin Koch, of the Colorado Springs Fire Department. “Nowadays our equipment is better but fires are more dangerous because of plastics and other materials that burn in buildings.”

The matter was discussed during the keynote speech by IAFF President Harold Schaitberger.

“We’re still learning,” he said. “Chemicals and substances can get on our skin, from our hands or necks. We need to do a better job of cleaning our equipment after we use it.”

The fifth Colorado firefighter inducted was John Whelan of the North Metro District.

“He was at a dumpster fire and walking on the roof of a warehouse checking to see if the fire had spread,” said Denver firefighter Tom Calabrese, a friend of Moilanen. “He fell through a skylight and broke several bones.”

Calabrese said Whelan had three surgeries and was sent home to recover but two weeks later had trouble breathing and died.

“Blood clots in his lungs,” Calabrese said.

IAFF officials also are raising awareness about the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder, other forms of stress and suicide among firefighters.

“Our suicide rate is twice the national average,” Schaitberger said.

The issue was part of a tragedy involving three Kansas City firefighters inducted this year.

Daniel Rapp was found dead of an apparent suicide last December outside a fire station where two comrades, Larry Leggio and John Mesh, worked.

Rapp and Leggio were friends but Leggio and Marsh died two months earlier when part of a burning building collapsed on them.

Authorities later determined the fire was intentionally set by a woman trying to collect insurance money.

Schaitberger said the IAFF will soon open a facility in Maryland for treatment and suicide prevention.

“The research will go on, too,” he said. “There’s a lot we still don’t understand about how firefighters get these conditions and how they deal with them. It’s a reminder of how tough the job can be.”

A procession of motorcycles and fire vehicles preceded the two-hour ceremony.

The memorial walls now bear 7,352 names.