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A day of respect for fallen firies

Bunbury Fire Brigade Station Officers Craig Beswick and David Pisani will pay their respects to past firefighters on Sunday, ahead of International Firefighters Day on May 4. Picture: Jon Gellweiler

Bunbury residents will be able to pay their respects to past firefighters who have served and lost their lives in the line of duty this Sunday.

Although the official International Firefighters Day is on Monday, local firefighters will commemorate and acknowledge their fallen workmates a day early at the Graham Bricknell Memorial Music Shell.

Bunbury Fire Station brigade officer David Pisani said the day was important to the industry.

“Both career and volunteer firefighters are able to pay their respects and reflect on past and present work mates, ” he said.

“After firefighters lost their lives in the Victorian fires, there was a call for a day to recognise what we do.”

The day was first recognised one year after the 1998 bushfires in Linton, Victoria, which took the lives of five firefighters.

Sunday’s event runs from 10am-1pm and will include vehicle rescue demonstrations and fire truck displays.

“People will be able to see the kind of things we do and what it takes to be a firefighter, ” Mr Pisani said.

An inaugural “sound off” will also be heard from the Bunbury Fire Station as part of the day of commemoration.