BFA Annoucements

FROM ADELL FIRE DEPARTMENT:

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Jan Habeck. 50 years by the side of Ret. Chief Bill Habeck 33 years as Chief and years as the secretary of our department, her support and dedication did not go unnoticed. Adell Fire Dept. will honor her with a walk thru Friday at 4:45p, Any departments attending we will be meeting at 4:30p at the Ernisse Funeral Home 1167 Washington Ave., Cedarburg. 

WHAT WERE YOU DOING THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001?

What were you doing the morning of September 11, 2001?  Were you born yet?  As we reflect what happened twenty years ago on what some the second day of infamy, let us not forget those responded to help those in the towers of the World Trade Center.  This day of infamy, changed the lives of all of us in the United States and around the world. The lives of 351 first responders changed forever!

According to John Sponholtz, “There is a pod cast by a pair of retired FDNY members, Lieutenant Lou Rufrano and Kevin Kubler, members of Special Operations Command (SOC).  On one episode, there was a discussion of that day, and how difficult it was to grieve the many lost members (SOC was particularly devastated), start the search of the rubble, figure out how to cover the city with the remaining manpower and equipment, and check on their own families.  Where would one start?

Lt. Rufrano was succinct answering the question of what was the hardest part of that day.  Both Kevin and Lou were members of Squad 288 which is housed with Haz-Mat 1 in Queens and responded.  From this station alone, nineteen members were lost on the morning of 9/11.  Let that sink in for a minute – 19.  That is a staggering number for a two-company house.  One of the problems was that this all happened just as the shifts were changing in all New York fire houses, so the compliment of members on each apparatus was greater than usual and the tracking and accountability was not done to normal procedures.  The normal riding lists were recorded per usual, plus extra members also responded.

Lou’s story brought tears to many that were reading the blog, as he recounted looking at the apparatus floor later, at the nineteen pairs of shoes, sets of two strewn about where his brothers had stepped out of them and into their bunker hitches, never to return.  One of the methods utilized to establish who was missing and unaccounted for was the shoes.”

From this story Ron Naab and John Sponholtz created a special ceremony to remember these heroes of the Fire Department of New York not only on September 11, 2001, they were heroes every call that the jumped out of their shoes and into their bunker hitches.  The goal is to collect at least 351 pair of slightly used, preferably new shoes.  These pairs of shoes will be set on the sidewalks of the Wisconsin Firefighters and EMS Memorial as a memorial to honor the 343 firefighters of the New York Fire Department and 8 Emergency Medical Technicians that responded to help.  These heroes made the Ultimate Sacrifice.

The goal is that these pairs of shoes will be taken to King Veterans Home (near Waupaca) and the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program at Chippewa Falls, Green Bay, and Union Grove for our veterans living in these facilities.

Gordie Boucher-West Bend has teamed up with Ron Naab of the Allenton Vol. Fire Department and American Legion Post 483 to allow those that would like to support this noble venture by being a collection site for the these shoes.  The shoes can be taken to Gordie Boucher Saturday, Monday or Tuesday during their hours of a special sales program they are holding.