RFD Honor Guard ceremony to honor Fallen Firefighters May 7

(ABC 6 News) – The Rochester Fire Department Honor Guard will hold a ceremony Sunday to commemorate the 42nd Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend (May 6-7)

This year’s memorial weekend is meant to honor 144 fallen Firefighters – 79 who died in the line of duty in 2022, and 65 who died in previous years.

The RFD Honor Guard will ring a ceremonial bell at the same time as at the National Fallen Firefighters
Memorial in Emmitsburg, MD.

Since the early days of the fire service, bells have been used as a way to summon firefighters to a station, communicate the type of emergency, or announce the end of a shift. When a firefighter died in the line of duty, a special sequence of five bells was tapped. The tolling of bells is still a tradition to honor the fallen during funerals and memorial services for Firefighters.

The local ceremony will also recognize the four Rochester Firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1866. Those Firefighters are Captain Peter Mackey, Firefighter Stanley O’Brien, Motor Operator Ambrose Riley, and Motor Operator Otis Ondler.

The ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 7 in front of Fire Station 1 (521 S. Broadway)

In addition, the domes at City Hall will be illuminated red on May 6 to respect the fallen and their families for Light the Night for Fallen Firefighter