On Tuesday October 8th a contingent of CFD Firefighters traveled to the New York State Capital of Albany to attend the annual New York State Fallen firefighters memorial ceremony. This ceremony is held each October, and brings together firefighters from across the state to honor fallen firefighters that have died in the line of duty.

This year’s memorial ceremony would honor 9 firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice by placing their names on the memorial’s wall.

CFD Firefighters attended the services to pay tribute to Cutchogue Firefighter James Parker Wickham who was among this year's firefighters being honored at the ceremony. Firefighter Wickham died tragically in a vehicle accident in 1930 while responding to an alarm. (See related story below)

Over the past year FF Wickham’s name was recognized on the newly constructed Southold Town Firefighters Memorial in Peconic, and now his name has been officially placed on the State Memorial Albany.

During the hour long ceremony each firefighters name was read aloud and the Department representatives were presented an official New York Stated Flag by Lt. Gov. Duffy in the fallen firefighters honor.

While CFD Firefighters were there to honor one of their own, and part of the Department's history, the memorial service also served as a stark reminder of the inherent dangers of the fire service as it reflected on events of the past year.

The memorial also included the names of the Two West Webster Firefighters, Firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczówka who were tragically killed by an unsuspected gunman on 12/24/12 while responding to a house fire near Rochester.

Also honored was FDNY Lt. Richard Nappi, who also worked as a Suffolk County Fire Academy Instructor training CFD firefighters before he died battling a fire in April of 2012.

The names of FF Wickham and the 8 other firefighters honored at the ceremony, join 2372 other names of firefighters throughout the state that have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their communites.

Click here to learn about the memorial: http://www.dhses.ny.gov/ofpc/memorial/