Overview

• The International Association of Fire Fighters will hold the main ceremony at Memorial Park on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 11 a.m., and the event is open to the public.
• Organizers report 311 names being honored this year, bringing the total recognized at the site to more than 9,000 since its expansion in the late 1980s.
• Event staff expect roughly 285 families in town, with support provided from airport arrival through departure and more than 6,000 seats set up, mostly reserved for relatives and friends.
• A command center staffed by firefighters on their days off helps run operations that include 700 four-hour volunteer shifts.
• Families visited the wall early on Sept. 18 to reflect privately, sharing stories that include losses tied to occupational cancer and PTSD-related suicide and urging cultural change around mental-health stigma.