Members of Las Vegas Fire & Rescue will join with fire departments across the country in paying tribute to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, during a simple remembrance being held at all city fire stations Thursday morning.
At 6:54 a.m. firefighters will gather at the flagpole in front of each city fire station as fire dispatchers will sound three sets of bell tones over Las Vegas Fire & Rescue’s communications channel in tribute to the 343 New York City firefighters.
The ringing of the bell is longtime tradition of the fire service known as the “tolling of the bells.” Many years before radio communications existed in the fire service, communication was done by fire alarm boxes on street corners that were assigned a “box number, ” much like an address. Firefighters had to memorize the box numbers and their locations. When a person pulled a fire alarm, the signal would go to all the fire stations by wire and ring the bell in the stations. The bell would ring the number issued to that box and firefighters would respond. Fire dispatch would also have designated ringing of the bells to alert department members of certain events.
If a firefighter was killed in the line of duty, fire dispatch would ring the bell in sets of five, three times. This would let everyone on the department know that a firefighter had just lost his or her life
in the line of duty.
As what has been done for the past six years, in the spirit of the tradition, fire dispatchers Thursday will ring a bell five times in sets of three in honor of the New York City firefighters.
In addition to the ringing of the bells, a special United States flag that once flew over the World Trade Center will be hoisted to half-staff on the flagpole in front of Las Vegas Fire Station Five, which is
located at 1020 Hinson Road (located at West Charleston and Hinson).
On display in front of the station is a piece of steel from the World Trade Center. The city of New York has requested that the special flag be flown over the piece of steel at half-staff each September 11. It
has been done every year since the city received the flag in 2004.
On display in front LVFR station 5 is a piece of steel from the World Trade Center
There will be a special presentation where a student will present Fire Chief Greg Gammon with a special tribute item that will be placed on display at Fire Station Five each September 11 and will be on display in the lobby of fire headquarters the rest of the year.
The public is invited to join firefighters at any of the city fire stations during the tribute on Thursday morning.
West Coast 911 source- LVFR media release
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