Seven names were ceremoniously added Saturday to a stone wall that honors fallen Arkansas firefighters.
Relatives, friends and veterans squinted into the afternoon sun during the fourth annual service at the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the state Capitol grounds.
"Our hope, and our desire, is that each person, each name listed here that represents a family ... will never be forgotten," said Chaplain Steve Farmer, who delivered the opening prayer.
The memorial features a fountain and four statues that each depict a different type of firefighter.
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Photos by Thomas Metthe
Photos by Thomas Metthe
Old Leather Lungs represents the origins of firefighting. The Angel of Mercy shows a paramedic firefighter comforting a child. On the Line is a forestry firefighter. And Pushin' In represents a modern day responder.
A stone wall with dozens of names forms the outer ring of the memorial. Saturday's ceremony remembered the people who were honored in years past as well as the seven firefighters who were newly added.
Those firefighters are:
• Denny E. Graham, Southridge Fire Department
• Doug Deckard, Cove Creek Pearson Fire Department
• Sherry McFatridge, Redfield Fire Department
• Robert Hickmon, Bradford Fire Department
• Gavin Wright, Little Rock Fire Department
• Robert S. Laws Jr., Jacksonville Fire Department
• Randy Treat, Kingston Fire Department
Sara Jones, a faculty member in the College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, gave the keynote address.
Jones, who is married to a firefighter, stressed the mental and emotional toll of the job.
In her research, Jones said, she found that one in four Arkansas first responders reported symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder.
One in three reported feelings that can be linked to suicide, she said.
There's pressure to brush off those emotions, Jones said. A firefighter might think, "I can barely handle it. How can I expect my wife, my husband, my family to handle it?"
"It's time that we bring more awareness to the not so glamorous, not so romantic parts of the job," she added.
During the proceedings, a bell was rung and a red rose was placed on the wall for every deceased Arkansas firefighter.
One of those roses was for Randall "Randy" Pogue, who was the Oak Grove fire chief when he died in the line of duty in 2014.
His wife, Veronica Pogue, corralled her children after the service. When her husband died, other widows reached out immediately, she said.
"We're an extended family. A large extended family," she said.
Today is the three-year anniversary of Sherry McFatridge's death. She and her husband, Dennis, both served with the Redfield Fire Department.
They used to leave their daughter, Brittany, under the watch of officials at the dispatch office to go on calls, he remembered.
Sherry McFatridge died of cancer less than a month after Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed Act 341 of 2015 into law.
It dictates that firefighters who die from certain cancers -- such as leukemia, lymphoma and mesothelioma -- that have been shown to have higher rates of occurrence in firefighters than the general population will be considered to have died in the line of duty.
His wife was the first to qualify, Dennis McFatridge said. Now, their daughter is studying at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She wants to be an oncology nurse, he said.
April Chism and Marilyn Deckard both clutched roses for Doug Deckard. The Cove Creek Pearson fire chief was fatally struck by a vehicle while checking waterlines during a heavy thunderstorm last year.
When he died, Hutchinson directed the state flag to be flown at half-staff in his honor.
He was "my boss, my friend, my little brother," Chism said.
"We fought like a married couple," but they were just "buddies," she said.
Marilyn Deckard said her son always had a helping heart.
She remembered that once, during a snowstorm, someone nearby needed medication and a jug of milk.
Roads were too icy to navigate.
So Doug Deckard acquired the items and strapped them to a board that he slid down a hill to the man in need.
"That's the kind of stuff he did every day," his mother said.
He had "ingenuity," Chism said. "He could shoot a rubber band further than anybody I knew."
"He was my hero."
Metro on 04/01/2018