Edmontonians gather to honour fallen firefighters on the 20th anniversary of 9/11

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On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the bell tower at Firefighters Memorial Plaza rang 28 times to honour active and retired Edmonton firefighters who have died in the last two years.

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Robin Flannagan and her son Maxwell McKee rang the bell to honour her father Jim who died on Aug. 23, 2020. He was a retired battalion chief and worked for the Edmonton fire department for 35 years.

Flannagan said this was the first memorial they had for her father and it was a happy ceremony for her family after COVID-19 prevented many families from taking part in the ceremony last year.

“Just a deep sense of gratitude to the city for providing something that our family needed just to show our love and to show obviously our remembrance, but in a way just that dad was part of a greater team and he just loved it,” she said. “He absolutely loved every day he went to work. He said he won the lottery when he became a fireman.”

Darryl Kilert attended to honour his father Gordon, who died on March 9 last year. He said his dad was a fireman for 30 years in Edmonton. After he rang the bell, Kilert pointed to the sky to make sure his father knew he rang it for him.

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Brad Kitiuk, acting fire chief for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, said he’s glad family members who had to wait a year could take part in the ceremony.

“It’s unfortunate if they were here because they suffered a loss, but I’m glad if anything this gives them some tie that the service hasn’t forgotten the contribution their family member has made,” said Kitiuk. “For the wives, the husbands, the kids, the grandkids, it’s a big community and the ties never break. They will be part of our community.”

Hundreds of Edmontonians gathered at the plaza outside the old fire hall in Old Strathcona for the annual ceremony. Mayor Don Iveson, NDP leader Rachel Notley and Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson all spoke during the service.

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Kitiuk said it’s important to keep people informed of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“As time passes on, there’s many who didn’t really experience what 9/11 meant to many in the industry,” he said. “We need to keep that awareness alive. It had a huge impact to the fire service in general through recognition of safety, procedures, medical, awareness, support from the community … bettering our response and thereby increasing safety for us and the service levels for the public.”

Sept. 11, 2001, in New York was the deadliest day for firefighters in U.S. history — 343 New York firefighters died that day and hundreds more have died due to 9/11-related illnesses.

Noel Bugnet, chairman of the Edmonton Firefighters Memorial Society, said something much “bigger and better” is on the way to replace the four plaques stolen off the bell tower in July.

“I would like to thank all the community members who stepped forward to help us through donations to replace our tower plaques with something much bigger and better to honour our members,” Bugnet said at the conclusion of the service.

Bugnet said they hope to have the plaques replaced by late October and it will be “well worth the wait.”