Fall River Fire Chief Honors Fallen Firefighters at Memorial

FALL RIVER — A light drizzle fell as an honor guard from Fall River firefighters marched through Kennedy Park to a monument at the corner of Middle and South Main streets honoring their fallen brothers.

The Fall River Permanent Firemen's Benefit Association hosted the annual tribute Sunday, held at the department's bell memorial.

On a stone pillar behind the bell are engraved the names of 22 men who died while serving in the department — what Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon called a silent memorial that speaks volumes nonetheless.

“The lessons learned from many of the names on this memorial are clearly recognizable,” Bacon told a small crowd of local officials, firefighters and family members gathered at the scene. “The circumstances of their deaths involve obvious dangers that we have since etched into our collective memory to remind us that our work can be tragically unpredictable.

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Bacon said the department honors the sacrifices of these men by engaging in constant learning and training to make the department safer for those who come after them.

But, he says, some risks can't be avoided through training – what Bacon calls “the silent, insidious threat to our profession”: cancer.