Niagara Falls unveils memorial to the firefighters they have lost

9 firefighters in Niagara Falls have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Their families had to travel to Colorado to see their loved ones names on a memorial but the Niagara Falls fire department changed that by unveiling a new memorial.

With 3 tolls of the bell, they unveiled the Line of Duty Death memorial. Family members of the 9 men were there to lay a rose near a stone where their husbands, dads, and grandfathers names are etched in stone.

Elaine Bassett-Kollee remembers her dad Glen who died in 1994. “He was a great person, he was a great dad, he was big and strong all my life, by the time I was 25 he was gone”.

It’s been 36 years since captain Harvey Lewis died of cancer. His wife Marion says this memorial will be a place to remember him.

8 of the 9 firefighters on the memorial died of a work related illness, like cancer. The other succumbed to a heart attack the day after fighting a blaze.

The memorial at Fire Station One on Morrison Street is open for anyone to come see and pay their respects.