Thirty firefighters were recognized Thursday for rushing to people’s aid during the Boston Marathon bombing and the shooting several days later of two police officers as the alleged bombers tried to flee the area, reports The Boston Globe.
The honors dominated the 16th annual “Firefighter of the Year” awards, which were handed out to individual firefighters and entire departments by Governor Deval Patrick and other dignitaries at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“It was very much like a celebration but in other ways it was solemn,” State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan, who heads the state Department of Fire Services, said in a telephone interview. “We take very seriously the job of a firefighter.”
The entire Boston, Cambridge, and Watertown fire departments were awarded for their “heroic on-duty responses to extraordinarily horrific events,” the fire services department said in a statement.
“It is in [a firefighter’s] blood to run toward disaster and bring stability to an emergency situation,” said Coan. “Today was our day to honor those firefighters.”
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