Honoring and paying tribute to firefighters on National Firefighter’s Day
International Firefighter’s Day is marked every year on May 4th to honor and pay tribute to the great work done by firefighters.
On January 4th, 1999, a proposal was emailed around the world by Lt. JJ Edmondson from Victoria, Australia to have a day devoted to firefighters.
The fourth of May was selected because it is St. Florian’s Day who is said to be one of the first commanding firefighters of a Roman battalion in the third century, credited with saving many lives and is recognized as the Patron Saint of Firefighters.
Firefighters do more than just put out fires. They respond to car accidents and are willing to help through any crisis. Firefighter Chase Scott said, “If you call 911, we’re rolling to it. It doesn’t matter if it is a fire, an accident, difficulty breathing, or whatever it is, we’re going to be running lights and sirens to it. To make somebody’s worst day their best day or try to fix a problem.”
The international firefighter ribbons are linked to colors symbolic of the main elements that firefighters work with: red for fire and blue for water.
