By Vicki Schmidt
The events are quite somber, with hundreds attending, mostly in their department dress blues. This sea of blue is to honor firefighters who have passed away. A bell tolls once for every name as it is read.
Maine’s Firefighter Memorial is located at Capitol Park in Augusta. The Maine State Federation of Firefighters constructed the memorial in 1998, with support and assistance from many other fire service organizations in Maine. The firefighters memorial commemorates and recognizes the contributions of Maine firefighters who have died both in the line of duty and otherwise. The Federation continues to maintain the memorial and every year, usually the first Saturday in October, a memorial service is held. Scott Holst, from Kennebec County and chair of the Memorial Committee for the federation, manages the maintenance and upkeep of Maine’s Firefighter Memorial. Dozens of volunteers spend hours throughout the year ensuring the memorial is always ready for visitors. Funding for the memorial is provided by donations and the federation’s Memorial Plaque program. For $25, surviving family members can have their deceased firefighter’s name placed on memorial plaques that travel around Maine and are on display for fire-related events. The firefighters named on these plaques do not have to have been members of the federation, and volunteer, paid, on-call, auxiliary and career firefighters are all welcome. As firefighters, they could have worked for municipalities, on state or federal fire crews, as forest rangers, or for private Industry, such as the fire crew at Bath Iron Works.
Though not located in Maine, many Maine firefighters have an entrenched connection to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Since 1981, the NFFF has sponsored the national tribute to all U.S. firefighters who died in the line of duty the previous year. The mission of the NFFF is three-fold: to honor and remember America’s fallen firefighters, to provide resources and assist their families in rebuilding their lives, and to work with the fire service community to reduce firefighter death and injury.
Mike Robitaille, of Yarmouth, has volunteered as a family escort for NFFF for 16 years and will travel with several other Maine firefighters to the 41st NFFF Memorial Weekend Oct. 8 and 9.
Smaller memorial services that honor individual or fateful events of firefighters are often part of local fire department programs. Sept. 11 is a day many fire departments around Maine commemorate the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11, as well as the hundreds of firefighters who have died from 9/11-related illnesses.
Everyone is invited to the MSFFF Firefighter Memorial Service at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at Capitol Park. For more information about the Maine Firefighter Memorial Plaque, visit msfff.org/images/PDF/Memorial_Plaque_Form_2019.pdf.
Contact your local fire chief to learn about firefighter or other first responder memorial services in your area. And to learn more about our National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, visit firehero.org.
— Vicki Schmidt is a Maine state fire instructor and volunteers with the Buckfield Fire Department, as well as several regional and state fire training organizations.
