By John Leggett-The Courier Herald
During the course of the past decade, and especially since the tragic events of 9/11, the Buckley Fire Department has had repeated requests to attend special events and participate in flag-raising ceremonies.
As the number of requests grew, there was discussion that perhaps the department should round up its interested members and initiate an official honor guard.
Thanks to the Buckley Log Show Committee, which stepped forward with a $4,000 donation, that's exactly what happened. The Log Show donation paid for equipment needed to outfit the City of Buckley Fire Department Honor Guard that consists of Lt. Eric Skogen, Lt. John Justice and firefighters Johan Olson, Chad VanWieringen, Dave Riggsby and Evan Stone.
The Honor Guard's fame is spreading like wildfire. The group was recently asked by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to assist with the Memorial Day ceremonies at the Buckley, Carbonado and Wilkeson cemeteries.
The week prior, the group participated in the opening ceremonies of Buckley's Relay For Life event.
What would happen if, during the course of one of these ceremonies, there was a fire call? Would Honor Guard members have to drop everything and climb into their bunker gear?
“No, hopefully we will have enough guys whose radio pagers go off to handle any incident that might occur while this special group is performing a flag raising ceremony for example,” Fire Chief Alan Predmore said.
John Leggett can be reached at jleggett@courierherald.com.
