New York is pausing to remember firefighters who died in the line of duty.
At an annual ceremony on Firefighters Appreciation Day Tuesday, 32 names were added to the state’s Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the Empire State Plaza in Albany. State Fire Administrator Jim Cable says fire service personnel are dying at higher rates.
“When we started this memorial, we would have the service right out here, outside by the memorial itself, and there would be five, six or seven names every year, post-9/11, in addition to the 343 firefighters that were lost that day. Now more than that number. That number was exceeded last year by those lost since, and that has given us large numbers. One year we had nearly 120. But 30, unfortunately, sadly, is not unusual,” Cable said.
Cable attributes the deaths to 9/11-related exposures and an increase in cancer caused by environmental toxins.
State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray says the memorial means they’ll be remembered by all New Yorkers.
“We owe you not a single day of mourning, not only to join you in your grief, which we do do and we will do, but we owe you the full weight and power of our collective government to protect those in the fire service who still run into danger,” Bray said.
Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is a Democrat.
“Be it one's political party, one's race, one's gender, one's religion. It doesn't matter when duty calls. A call is answered unflinchingly, without preconditions. Now, as a society, we owe them,” Delgado said.
Plattsburgh City Fire Chief Scott Lawliss agrees. Scott LaFlesh, of that department, was added this year.
“Every day you go to work, you don't know if you're going home. Being that we're a career department, every day I go to work, that's a thought, and it's a thought of all our members,” Lawliss said.
Lawliss says he’s seen positive changes in the field during nearly three decades as a firefighter.
“The dirtiest gear was a badge of honor. Now the dirtiest gear is a sign that you aren't taking your health seriously. So there's been a complete 180 on that,” Lawliss said.
James Drohan Jr. is with the Ossining Fire Department in Westchester County. Both he and his father, James Senior, were first responders on 9/11. On that day, the elder Drohan, whose name was added this year, was at work in Manhattan.
“He got all his team to the South Street Seaport, and then he beelined to the World Trade Center, where he found a police officer. He asked him how he could help, and then he just went to work, bringing injured people to the care of EMS, and also providing people with guidance on how to get out of New York City,” Drohan said.
His service on that day led to his death from pancreatic cancer in October 2018.
Fire Prevention Week continues through Friday.
