The 45th Annual Firefighter’s Drill School hosted by the Old Forge Fire Department is set for Friday, Satur-day and Sunday, September 16 through 18.
Registration will be held at the Old Forge Fire Hall on Thursday, September 15 beginning at 6 p.m. and Friday, September 16, at 7:30 a.m. and again on Saturday, September 17 at 7:30 a.m.
This year’s Fire School will carry the theme, In Memory of Our Fallen Heroes, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. A Memorial Service is planned at the Fire Hall at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday featuring guest speaker Lt. Michael Wilbur of FDNY.
Wilbur has been a volunteer firefighter for over 27 years and a career firefighter with the New York City Fire Department for 30 years. As a member of FDNY, he was assigned to Ladder Company 56 for 15 years, eight as an apparatus operator.
In 1995 he was promoted to the rank of Lt. and is presently assigned to Ladder Company 27 in the Bronx.
Lt. Wilbur is also contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine and Fire Apparatus Journal, and is nationally recognized in Emergency Vehicle Operations, Apparatus Placement and Purchasing.
Aside from conducting the Memorial Service, he will serve as the Saluting Officer in the Annual Firefighter’s Parade which will begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday on Main Street.
According to Jack Graham, who co-chairs the Firefighter’s Drill School Committee with Vicki Balling, the 9/11 Memorial Service promises to be very moving.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a firefighter from out of town or from Old Forge. We are all brothers and sisters. We are all one big family. When you lose a firefighter, you may not know their name, but you’ve lost part of your family,” he said.
Graham, who is a Captain with the Old Forge Fire Department and Fire Commissioner for the local Fire District, said the public is welcome to observe the outdoor training classes from a safe distance that will be held on Railroad Street and the North Street Pavilion over the weekend.
“We also invite everyone to come to the Fire Hall on Friday and Saturday nights to enjoy refreshments and the music of two great bands,” Graham added.
