911 Remembrance

The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) reminds us that September 11 will soon be here. While we know that you have many choices to participate in observations on this day, they would like to extend to you their invitation to OCFA’s memorial service at either the Regional Fire Operations and Training Center (RFOTC) or station remembrances at any one of our Fire Stations.

At RFOTC: The memorial service will begin at exactly 8:40 a.m. The reason for the unique start time is to coordinate the ceremony with the timing of the loss of the first plane. The service will take place at the Firefighter Memorial located outside and in the front of their main building’s reception entrance. Please be sure to wear your sunglasses or hats since this service takes place outside.

All OCFA Fire Stations will be participating. These ceremonies will begin at exactly 8:46 a.m., which concedes with the loss of the second plane. These station remembrances will not mirror the full memorial service at the RFOTC. These events will basically consists of uniformed personnel standing in formation, sharing the Fire Chief’s message from the RFOTC memorial service with those in attendance via their portable radios, sharing silence, and honoring and recognizing the fallen in the saluting the U.S. Flag.

I will be attending the service at Station #19 on El Toro Rd. Mayor Pro Tem Leah Basile will be attending the ceremony at Station #18 in Portola Hills. We invite everyone to come by and join us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be Oct 18 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).