Flanders Fire Department remembers war heroes and fallen brethren at annual memorial ceremonies: photos

The Flanders Fire Department conducted its annual memorial service this morning at Fireman’s Memorial Park, where volunteer firefighters turned out in class A dress uniform to pay their respects to fallen war heroes and deceased members of the department. The annual ceremonies consist of placing wreaths, firing a ceremonial cannon, and reading the department honor roll as a bell tolls for each name on the list.

“War seems like it never ends,” Flanders Fire Department Chaplain Robert Bourguignon told the assembled firefighters and a handful of residents at this morning’s service.

Bourguignon reflected on the words of President Ronald Reagan: “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation.”

The chaplain said he did not understand how Americans do not “appreciate what we have and wish to leave this country and join ISIS or the Taliban.

“I say let them go and take their passports away so they can never return,” Bourguignon said.

He asked his fellow firefighters to support the Wounded Warriors Project because its members have “given their all” for America.

“Because of them there’s no bombs dropping on your heads, there’s no bullets you have to duck, and nobody’s trying to cut your head off just because of your beliefs,” Bourguignon said.

Firefighter Beth Young read “In Flanders Field” before the ceremonial cannon blast pierced the morning air.

Department members then marched from the war memorial on the south end of the park to the firefighters memorial on the north end for the reading of the names on the honor roll.

“Fortunately this year the list has not grown any longer,” Bourguignon said.

“We gather here to honor those who have served the community with their time and their efforts,” he said. “We cannot know for whom the bell will ring next. That is up to the Lord.”

Bourguignon slowly read the names of the 18 deceased members on the department’s honor roll, with each name punctuated by the peal of a silver bell.

Former Flanders firefighters Anna and Dave Schaffauer, who recently moved from Flanders to Quogue, were on hand for this morning’s service. Anna Schaffauer addressed the members of her former department about lessons she learned in making the move. The couple felt welcome in Quogue Fire Department “almost instantly.” Dave Schaffauer was given a new nickname there: Radar — “for his knowledge of all things electronic.”

“I guess this suits him better than his old nickname, ‘Longhair,’ which no longer applies,” she said.Anna Schaffauer read an original poem, “Night alarm” — which, she said afterward, she’d written on the drive from Quogue to Flanders this morning. Based on recent experience, her poem is about answering an alarm in the middle of the night:

Asleep at 2300
0200 now awake
I turned to shut off my alarm —
but it’s the pager,  for goodness sake.

I stumble in the darkness to find my pants and shirt
sharp pain reminds me I also need shoes
because rogue Legos really hurt

Now where’s the flippin’ car keys?
I left them on the table.
I find them as trip across a loose computer cable.

Out the door and in the car,  feeling some success —
until reaching for my blue light and I plug in my GPS.
I run into the truck bay, open up all the doors
toss aside my sneakers, hear them thump onto the floor.

Safely in my turnout gear
the truck I jump inside
to hear the chief’s reassuring voice:
‘Take a 5 — and 25.”

Brunch was served at the firehouse following the ceremonies. Firefighters no sooner sat down to enjoy the meal when they were called out on an alarm for a structure fire at a house almost directly across from the firehouse on Flanders Road. A resident had forgotten something cooking on the stove and gone out. The scorched pot filled the two-story home with smoke and when it came billowing out of the windows, a worker at the adjacent marina saw it and called 911. See photos.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti