Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
bae, how long has that memorial been at your fire station?
Years now. The piece of steel was given to our department by FDNY, and one of our members drove across the country to bring it back here.

Is there a reason a chunk of the World Trade Center figures prominently?
Yes, it is a memorial to those who died in that particular incident. Which was the single highest casualty incident for firefighters in US history. It stands out, both for the statistics, and for the particulars of the day. We still go over some of the lessons learned every week in training. It's...important.

Are the losses of those firefighters' lives more worth commemorating than those of any other firefighters'?
Not particularly. But you make the incorrect assumption that we do not honor those others.

Surely Seattle has lost firefighters in the course of duty. What about them and the losses of their families?
Indeed Seattle has. We talk about them pretty often around the station, several perished in tricky ways that we'd all like to avoid, and their names come up in training. As to their families, you may be unaware of the large behind-the-scenes fraternal efforts that exist for mutual aid....

What I'm pointing out is that, for some reason, there are damn few public monuments to firefighters and police officers who've died over the course of the decades but a shower of coverage every September 11th for those specific people.
The monument I posted a picture of, while technically a "public" monument, is inside our station, built by firefighters, paid for by firefighters, and meant for firefighters and their families. There are several such memorials in our stations. There's a whole hall of them at the state fire academy...

Good day.