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Fire Log
2005
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“Reflections on a
Tragedy”
by Bob Lehman
December 3, 1999 - This will be a date that stands very clear in a lot of minds of Firefighters not only those local, but those throughout the world.
This would be a day we would not forget.
At 1813 hours the Worcester Fire Dept struck box 1438 for a vacant cold storage warehouse, initial reports of possible people trapped later proved to be false but as usual the WFD did what they had to do and conducted a search. They thought nothing of what they were doing, just doing their job
But on this fateful night this would be the "last alarm" for six brother firefighters.
As many of you did I attended the Memorial service for the Fallen Six on December 9,1999 and having been in the Fire Service for almost ten years I could not believe what I saw.
When are bus arrived near the staging area only then could you get a grasp of how big this really was, The buses were lined up as far as the eye could see and they kept coming and as you watched the buses you saw the patches from the other Fire Dept.’s they were local ones, but when buses showed up from Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio you knew the outpouring of support from other brother Firefighters was vast and reaching.
The lineup for the procession was immense with almost every State being represented and everywhere you turned all you saw was dress blue uniforms. When the procession started for the march of over a mile to pay respects to the two firehouses of the men that had lost their life, this is when it really struck me.
The procession was very neat, very sharp a sea of blue as far as the eye could see, but this I expected. What I didn’t expect was the citizens of Worcester I knew from the news that the community had rallied, but this was impressive everywhere you looked on every piece of street there were people gathered not just one or two but five deep on every section of street. You knew that the city was going to slow down on this day, but it didn’t……..It stopped 100% completely stopped; people lining the streets had signs of respect and praise not only for their "heroes" but also for all of the Firefighters gathered there genuine thanks for the job that we all do day in and day out. The show of respect was everywhere from the Mass Electric crews with there booms up and standing in silence to people on the streets crying and maybe not even knowing any of fallen.
This procession was not a small walk either it lasted for a while traveling past both of the houses of the fallen brothers and then it streamline towards the Worcester Centrum and I was then met with 15,000 brother Firefighters and probably that many more who could not get in the Centrum
Once Inside I was amazed at the Firefighters from throughout the country and the world. The memorial service was a very nice tribute to the fallen, even though the closure had not been reached for the families of the brother Worcester firefighters who at the time had not recovered their fellow firefighters, while some may have thought this was a political bandstand it was a fitting send off to the heroes that they were, the words of Sen. Kennedy were very moving including his reading of the poem Brother when you weep for me.
Some of the Firefighters during and after the ceremony had a chance to visit the site of the fire and visit the makeshift memorial of Worcester Engine 7,there was definitely a chill from visiting this Erie site, But at the very least it is a reality check for all of us and makes us all realize what we have and we all have to be safe at all times.
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