SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Fallen firefighters were honored at the California state Capitol Saturday evening.
The California Fire Association held a ceremony at the Sheraton Grand Hotel and added 35 more names to the Firefighter Memorial Wall this year. The annual event hosts speakers, uniformed firefighters and family members of those who have died to honor them.
The memorial wall has more than 1,500 names of California firefighters who died in the line of duty since 1850.
"It's been a hard few years those of you who lost loved ones," said Gov. Gavin Newsom. "I want to thank you for the devotion the cause that unites us here today and that's each other and I want to thank all of those remarkable heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice and now are honored on the heroes wall."
All 35 names added to the memorial are below:
- Matthew Brabo – CAL FIRE
- Anthony Cano – Lakeside
- Miguel Cervantes – Rancho Cucamonga
- Matthew Clapsaddle – Ventura City
- Paul Crimmins – City of San Rafael
- Henry Doody – Oakland
- Brian Falk – Kern County
- Daniel Geary – CAL FIRE
- Scott Gomes – CAL FIRE
- Karl Hegle – San Bernardino County
- Michael Horton – San Bernardino County
- Earl Jones – Oakland
- Heath Kelly – South San Francisco
- Stephen Leong – Fresno City
- Steven McCann – Los Angeles County
- Peder McElroy – Branciforte
- John McNelis – Barstow
- Roberto Medina – National City
- Timothy James Mrozinski – Rocklin
- Russell N. Nakamura – Los Angeles
- Marcus Pacheco – USFS
- Steven Padgett – Oakland
- Howard Pheatte – Oakland
- Nickolas Ramirez III – San Diego
- Matthew Rominger – USMC
- Kyle Rutherford – Sacramento Metropolitan
- Mark Schmidt – Kern County
- Jack Sheppard – San Ramon Valley
- Timothy Strack – Riverside
- Michael Tooley – Orange County
- Victor Vega – Richmond
- Jeffrey Vitti – Sacramento Metropolitan
- Stephen Wakefield – Crescent City
- James Waldmeier – San Luis Obispo
- Jerry G. Welton – Monrovia
The event was held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Applications for the 2024 Ceremony will be due in Spring 2024. More information can be found HERE.
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