Speech: At the dedication of a fire station

Remarks delivered at the Dedication of the Powell Butte Fire Station
by Crook County Judge Scott R. Cooper, Feb. 1, 2003

As you might well imagine, this morning began for me with the sounds of a crumpled speech hitting the bottom of a trash can.

Today, as it turns out, is not a day for telling jokes and speaking lightly things. Today, it turns out, is a day to reflect on more somber themes.

As you all know by now, the space shuttle Columbia apparently exploded this morning shortly after 6 a.m. in the skies over Texas. Six Americans and an Israeli astronaut were killed, as they returned triumphantly from a successful mission. I’m sure all our hearts go out to their families and to their colleagues, who even though they knew the dangers of the work at hand, are nonetheless plunged into grief today.

For firefighters and emergency response personnel tragedy such as this is all too familiar. If you read the poetry and the literature that surrounds firefighting it is filled with fatalism. References to those who lay their lives on the line for others, to destiny and fate known only by God and to extreme sacrifice are the stuff of which the Fireman’s Prayer, Ode To Firefighters and Firefighters Poem are made of.

And yet there are still those who pursue this calling. They are a dedicated and selfless group, and it is for them that we are gathered here today to dedicate this station.

The ranks of those interested in the profession of firefighting is filled with notables. Benjamin Franklin formed the first fire company in the United States in 1736. George Washington himself imported the first fire engine to American from England in 1765.

And none of us will soon forget the men and women of Ladder Company 12 who were first responders to World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. How many lives were saved because of the proximity of that station and the immediate response of those heroes we cannot say. But we know there were many, and we are glad they were there on that terrible day.

Powell Butte is far from Ground Zero. And none of us expect that a space shuttle will likely fall from the sky in this neighborhood. In the best of circumstances, we hope those attached to this station will spend their days extinguishing barns blazes and smoldering haystacks and transporting patients only as a precautionary measure.

But we derive great comfort from the knowledge that the station is here, that the paid staff and volunteers who man it are caring, training professionals and that it is our friends and neighbors who are looking out for us 24 hours a day.

We live in uncertain times, and any small security adds to our peace of mind. The events on the greater national stage today appropriately distract us from the task at hand, but it is no less important for being overshadowed by history. As we dedicate this station today, let us celebrate appropriately what it means in terms of the progress and bright future of this community, but let us also be mindful that the station itself is ultimately only the vessel, which contains the heart and soul of the firefighting mission--the men and women who protect us all, each and every day. It is in gratitude to them to them that we should dedicate this facility.

Thank you for the opportunity to join you today.