Thousands of firefighters from across the country joined Houston residents to honor the four firefighters killed last week, reports the Associated Press.
The service began with the victims’ families processing in one by one as firefighters throughout the stadium stood and saluted them. As many as 40,000 people gathered in Reliant Stadium to remember the four who died Friday – the deadliest day in the Houston Fire Department’s 118-year history.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, family members and other firefighters spoke in memory of the fallen firefighters, saying they died fulfilling a dream and sacrificing their lives to save others.
The service ended with the wailing of bagpipes.
Before it began, dozens of fire trucks and emergency services vehicles from New Orleans, Dallas and elsewhere formed a long procession on flag-lined streets leading to the stadium.
“This is what the firefighter family is all about,” said Teresa Gonzales, whose husband is a 30-year Houston firefighter. “It’s awesome they’re doing this for the families (of the victims).”
四名受害者的照片on video screens in the cavernous stadium, normally home to the NFL’s Houston Texans. Behind the stage, two fire trucks, ladders extended, held up a giant American flag. Similar trucks outside hoisted U.S. and Texas flags.
The names of the four were in lights on scrolling boards that ring the inside of the stadium.
当尘埃在火中丧生l structure collapsed were Capt. Matthew Renaud, 35, who had been with the department for 11 1/2 years; engineer operator Robert Bebee, 41, who joined the department almost 12 years ago; firefighter Robert Garner, 29, who joined the department 2 1/2 years ago; and Anne Sullivan, 24, a probationary firefighter who had graduated in April from the Houston Fire Department Academy.
Representatives from each of their families, along with Parker, Fire Chief Terry Garrison and other fire officials, spoke from a stage adorned with flowers. Garrison was to present to the grieving families flags that flew over the U.S. Capitol last Friday.
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