As bagpipers played under a calm gray sky, the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department honored fallen firefighters from throughout the force’s history during the department’s 57th annual Memorial Service on Monday morning.
About 60 community members gathered at Chubb DeWolfe Park, just across from department headquarters, to watch a series of speakers commemorate the 58 city firefighters lost in the line of duty since 1872. Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Stacy Cook, who presided over the 2017 trial that resulted in a prison sentence for Ray Abou-Arab following the 2014 deaths of Toledo firefighters James Dickman and Stephen Machcinski, gave the keynote address. Judge Cook called the department’s firefighters “more than heroes” in her address.
“You simply go in with a heart and mind that caused you to commit to this profession, to this community, to all of us, and to give more than any of us not in your shoes could truly fathom,” she said.