BURRILLVILLE – A firefighter from Burrillville who lost his life last year in the line of duty will be honored at a ceremony in Emmitsburg, MD next weekend, and have his name added to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
Lt. Richard Jenks, a 33 year veteran of the Pascoag Fire Department died at the age of 72 while fighting a chimney fire in town in February 2018. Jenks was also veteran of the United States Air Force and served his country for 24 years in Vietnam, Thailand, Kuwait, and Southeast and Southwest Asia.
A group from Pascoag will be traveling to Maryland to attend a service recognizing Jenks, along with 92 others who lost their lives in the line of duty that year, as well as 27 others from previous years.
The 38th National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will be held Sunday, Oct. 6, starting at 10 a.m. at the National Fire Academy. The service was officially launched on Tuesday, Sept. 17, when leaders and members of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus presented 119 flags, which were flown over the U.S. Capitol in honor of each fallen firefighter, according to a report this week in Fire Engineering.
On Sunday, the names of the firefighters will be read, and the flags will be presented to members of the late firefighters’ families. Honor Guards and pipe and drum units from across the U.S. will participate, and a bronze plaque bearing their names will be added to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
The firefighters also will be remembered in a Candlelight Service on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 6:30 p.m.
More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the events as part of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend, organized by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The foundation was created by legislation passed by Congress in 1992 to honor all fallen firefighters and offer support to their families.
The event is open to the public, and NFFF will provide live satellite broadcasts of both the Candlelight Service and the National Memorial Service at http://live.firehero.org.
