CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — A memorial service in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County on Thursday honored the generations of first responders in the county who have given their lives to serve the community.
Every year, fire and EMS officers gather along with community members to honor and celebrate the lives of those with line-of-duty and non-line-of-duty deaths. This year, Cumberland County reported zero line-of-duty deaths.
The 2023-2024 ceremony honored dozens of first responders with red carnations, a symbol of the love shown by first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving their community.
Dave Warren, president of the Cumberland County Fire Chief’s Association, said, “It’s just our way of giving a little bit back to them and recognizing them.”
For some first responders, Warren says the firehouse has been a part of their life for decades.
“A fair amount of these folks have given 20, 30, some of them as long as 50 years of their life. They gave freely to the community all those years,” Warren said.
But this year, the memorial also honored the history of first responders in the Carlisle community.
“So they had two line-of-duty deaths, four firefighters injured and they lost their building. That was a big significance in Carlisle history,” said David Howard from Carlisle Fire and Rescue.
The memorial commemorated the 50th anniversary of a tragic fire at the Cumberland Company Firehouse that resulted in the death of two volunteers, Harry Hershey and Gerald Royer.
But according to Howard, line-of-duty deaths were treated differently in 1974.
“They stayed in service and served the community. It took them a year to rebuild the firehouse and they never went out of service the entire time,” he said.
Today, Howard says fire companies will often go out of service for 24 hours to allow time to honor the lives and deaths of their members. Mental health resources in the fire service have also become more common and easily accessible, which Howard says can help when dealing with the death of a coworker.
“You had to tough it out a lot…but now you have all kinds of help. Back then there wasn’t anything like that…just the brotherhood,” said Howard.
A brotherhood that, thanks to Howard, was reunited at the memorial service.
“I brought some older members along with me who were actually at the fire 50 years ago,” he said.
Howard drove the members in a fire truck that was in service during the 1974 blaze and was used to fight the flames, adding another layer of fire department history to the memorial.