Cindy Pride, wife of a Cincinnati firefighter, watched the city's annual Firefighters Memorial Service on Wednesday with a mixture of pride and fear.

        The death of hundreds of firefighters, police and other rescuers at the World Trade Center a month ago, heightens her awareness of the dangers and challenges her husband faces daily.

Steve Ludmann, a Blue Ash firefighter/paramedic, kisses his son Joe during the annual Firefighters Memorial Service on Wednesday at Fountain Square. (Glenn Hartong photos) | ZOOM |

        “It's hard being a wife,” she said. “I don't like to watch the news because it's too scary.”

        More than 250 firefighters, firefighter recruits, police officers and relatives of fallen firefighters attended the service, which began at Fountain Square. It ended at the memorial across the street from Cincinnati Fire Division headquarters on Central Avenue.

        Those in attendance wore red, white and blue ribbons and little red fireman's-helmet pins as a show of solidarity and support.

        Tim Pride, a lieutenant, can relate to his wife's feelings.

        The veteran firefighter said what frightens him is the assurance that he would have made the same call as the rescuers in New York: He would have ordered his fire company into the burning World Trade Center.

        “We try not to dwell on it,” Lt. Pride said. “We know it's a dangerous job. But it kind of hits home when something like Sept. 11 happens because we all know we would have been doing the same exact thing.”

Cincinnati firefighter David Weitzel and his son, Jacob, 7, salute the presentation of colors. | ZOOM |

        During the ceremony, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune presented Victoria Ellison with a proclamation honoring the courage of her husband, Bill Ellison. The Miami Township firefighter died in the line of duty earlier this year.

        Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken also honored firefighters.

        “Firefighters are America's heroes,” he said. “It's a new job today. Sept. 11 made it a new job. The risks are new and unprecedented.”

        Cincinnati Fire Chief Robert Wright said in the past decade more than 1,000 firefighters nationwide have died in the line of duty. Those numbers will increase, he said, with the threat of terrorism unless measures are taken to keep firefighters safer.

        Those measures include proper staffing, training and equipment to deal with the new threats, he said.

        “Firefighters are the nation's first line of defense,” Chief Wright said.
       

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