2009 News
October 5, 2009
Commissioners Join Fire Community to Honor Fallen Firefighters During 5th Annual County Memorial Event
During a sun-splashed morning ceremony in the Bucks County Courthouse courtyard October 4, Bucks County Commissioner Chairman Charles H. Martin joined Commissioner Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, LCSW, Pennsylvania State Representative Marguerite Quinn and fire chiefs and firefighters from around the county to conduct the 5th annual remembrance of fallen heroes. The ceremony, held adjacent to the Bucks County memorial, paid tribute to the 22 Bucks Countians who have perished in the line of duty to the fire service since Walter L. Moore passed away in April, 1915 when his apparatus was struck by a train in Penndel.
“Each October, we gather here on National Fallen Firefighters Memorial weekend to honor these men – each of whom is remembered with solemn gratitude on the monument you see before us,” Chairman Martin told an assemblage that included 75 uniformed fire chiefs and firefighters from multiple companies. “Thankfully, we have not had to inscribe any of their brethren on our monument this year.”
Recognizing the 103 fire-service members who died nationwide during 2008 – including eight Pennsylvanians – Commissioner Ellis-Marseglia spoke to the “awesomeness” and youthful admiration that accompanies firefighting. “There is no other job that forces people to face their greatest fears in order to save another man's life,” she told the audience, several of whom were family members of Bucks County’s fallen first-responders.
During her remarks, Representative Quinn thanked Pennsylvania’s firefighters for their unwavering commitment to volunteerism, for responding to calls at 2 a.m. not knowing if they will return safely to their loved ones. She cited budget statistics indicating that a full statewide complement of paid firefighters would cost approximately $6 billion annually. The proposed total current annual budget is $28 billion.
The ceremony was emceed by Robert Hedden of the Bucks County Fire Chiefs and Firefighters Association. Joseph Black, chaplain of the Warminster Fire Department, offered the invocation and the benediction. Thomas Markey, president of the Fire Chiefs and Firefighters Association, also offered remarks of tribute.