Ceremony pays tribute to firefighters lost in the line of duty

The Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM) held a solemn and moving ceremony Tuesday, June 20 to pay tribute to Westmount firefighters who lost their lives while protecting the public. Among those gathered at Fire Station 76 on Stanton Street were the station personnel, SIM officials, members of the SIM Guard of Honour, family members of the fallen firefighters and former colleagues, many now retired. 

Following a brief presentation and a salute by the firefighters to the sound of a bagpipe, a commemorative plaque installed on the front wall of the fire station was blessed by the SIM’s chaplain and a minute of silence observed by all. Installed by the City years ago, the plaque bears the names of three Westmount firefighters —  Ronald Masson, Eric Hart and Patrick Geraghty, who died in 1973, 1979 and 1981 respectively. 

The ceremony was the initiative of an SIM committee named « Hommage aux pompiers décédés en devoir » and created in 2015 to honour the memory of the 143 firefighters lost in the line of duty throughout the SIM’s 153-year history. The committee has undertaken to establish commemorative plaques in each of the fire stations across Montreal Island. For Westmount, the ceremony recognized the existing plaque.

You can watch an excerpt of the Westmount ceremony here