Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Friday September 13th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here.
Welcome in this studio.
Our good friend Tom Anderson from the Wisconsin State Fire and EMS Memorial.
We're going to talk about a couple of things coming up with Tom, a couple of big events.
The upcoming final alarm and the roll call ceremony that will be taking place on September 28th.
Want to get into those with you, Tom.
But first and foremost, we want to thank you.
Now, if what you've put into this community, you and your brothers and sisters over there with the Fire Department
and the people over the years, the people that are still working there, the people that are still volunteering,
the people that heaven or have over the years, as a kid, the first field trip I went on when I was in Chicago
was to the Chicago Fire Department.
And since then, I have had a love and a respect for our firefighters that I feel like we, as a society,
don't get to highlight nearly enough.
So I appreciate the time today to be able to do that and talk about some really important events coming up.
Before we do all that, Tom, I appreciate in our pre-game you kind of bringing something up in the history around here of this.
I'd love to dive into that with you, especially given your attachment to this, your connection with it.
Sure.
I've been more than happy to.
It was 1995, actually.
So we're heading toward what, 30 years?
Yeah.
Since we kind of had this idea between, there was four firefighters that basically shared that vision.
Yeah.
And they took that and they addressed it to the city and then to the state.
And there was, you know, we kind of stirred things up a little bit and went forth from there.
And it was a mission to get a Wisconsin state firefighters memorial in a central location rather than south, north, east, west.
To get it centrally so everybody could enjoy it and travel about the same distance to see it.
Yeah.
So that's why Wisconsin Rapids was so chosen.
Yeah.
And we pushed for a certain part of the park.
And we knew it was good because they kind of said he actually complained a little bit.
And initially saying, hey, that's our favorite area.
Yeah.
We're trying to do something even better.
And that's where it started.
And our vision turned into a signing from Tom's, Tommy Thompson at the time the governor and he signed it into law over at the fire station with everybody around.
And so it'll be almost 30 years.
It's an impressive story.
And it shows the heart of our firefighters, the heart of our citizens and how much this means to them.
Whether there were the pushback that existed or what have you, I can only imagine what those people are feeling now because this is one of the.
I don't think that many people would ever consider this a tourist attraction by any means or anything like that.
But it is something that brings people to our area.
And it is something that certainly the people of this area hold up with pride and cherish just as much as anything else in our area like the cranberry blossom fest or any of the great highlights that we have around here.
The Wattestie Show tournament, all of these things.
This when people and I hear people talking about this area and selling this area to put it lightly.
That memorial comes up and there is a pride it is taken in that.
I think that's what we were looking at when we were looking for a place to put the memorial and capsulated.
Nothing can be built around it.
We have a beautiful city in the sense that we are separated by a river.
And it's beautiful.
You know, we've seen the sunset, sun rises.
We have a beautiful area.
So that park was perfect.
Perfect for it.
We took our ideas that all four of us and basically made it happen.
And we wanted it to be community oriented.
This is not only professional firefighters paid, professional firefighters volunteer.
They mean community like you said.
It's community.
Thousands of firefighters all across the state of Wisconsin.
They represent not just Wisconsin rapids or Madison or Milwaukee or something like that.
The smaller towns also.
And so that's why we have the gazebo over there.
We wanted to make it look like a park setting.
But at the same time recognize the sacrifice that some firefighters made in the line of duty.
That's where the wall comes in.
Some places have a memorial where all the names of firefighters go on that wall when they die.
But this is meant to be for those line of duty deaths.
The whole park is set up so that it represents all firefighters at any stage of their careers and EMS personnel.
We added that just a few years ago.
And that represents your first responders, your EMTs, your paramedics.
When it comes to having a memorial like this in a great place in our town and it's also noteworthy.
We're certainly not the only city that does something like this.
A lot of cities have their memorials or anything in a good place.
But it means something at that location that you brought up it really does.
For me, I like to go on runs.
I like to go on walks at night.
Right on.
Every one of my runs starts and ends right there.
And I'll take the run around the river and come back.
It's intentional on my part, not only so that I am reminded of these wonderful amazing human beings
that gave so much and did so much for our communities.
And that reminder of that, that I never want to be normalized or lost on me or anybody in our community.
But also the beauty of it over there.
It's a beautiful location.
And the memorial itself is beautiful like all of it is.
It's very inspiring.
Oh, thank you.
And that's something that the park standing brings.
You know, you have the gazebo so that people can just sit and talk or whatever.
As you walk up, you're going to see the wall.
It has a central and elevated position.
And then as you walk over to the south, you'll see a large bell that comes from superior.
It was actually a fire bell.
It's massive, but we had it located there because it's a final alarm.
It's the 333 from the state of Wisconsin.
It represents the call to duty and then your final alarm.
And that's why we have our, basically, the logo over there is the trumpet sounded the call to duty.
And so you'll see the benches.
You'll see the flagpole, the court of honor.
And the bridge over the area that is part of the river that you have to lead that open because it floods.
It can come in there.
You know, it's a dry position right now, but many times it does get wet.
Yeah, it's something that we have noticed a little bit over the years, for sure.
We're speaking with our friend Tom Anderson talking about the Wisconsin State Fire and EMS Memorial.
Tom, thank you so much for the history, the dive down the history lane down there.
I love being able to do that.
Let's talk a little bit about the mission of the Wisconsin State Fire and EMS Memorial.
Well, that talks about the mission exactly as those firefighters across the state of Wisconsin,
whether you're paid or volunteer, paid on call, whatever.
We want to represent the honor and their sacrifice that they make each and every day.
The same thing with, as over the last few years, some of the EMS personnel.
Now, a lot of your firefighters are EMTs or paramedics here in Wisconsin Rapids.
I mean, that was a firefighter for 26 plus years here in Rapids.
We have to be paramedics also.
I mean, that's a dual role.
And 80% of your calls are paramedic calls.
And this is a representative of that.
And you'll see that as you walk through the park, our statue that we have placed there.
And that actually this year is the 20th anniversary of that statue being placed there.
If you look, you'll see that it's one firefighter generic.
You don't know if it's a male female pulling another firefighter out of harm's way.
Now, that can represent pulling somebody that's deceased.
You lost that firefighter.
It all depends on what that person sees when they walk through that park.
Or you can see somebody may rescuing somebody.
One person right behind him is coming in with an EMS bag, a trauma bag on their back.
That's representative of the EMS and the dual role that firefighters play all throughout the state.
Doesn't matter if you're professional paid or professional volunteer.
This brings up a really interesting point, a strong point for me, Tom.
I think that the structure itself, that the physical thing itself is a work of art.
It's beautiful.
And I think that like all good art, a good painting, what I get from it, what you get from are going to be two different things.
And I think that is always unique and cool about art.
And that's what it's supposed to do.
Right. And while that's not why this was built, certainly.
But that is one more way of people registering and understanding and having a little more empathy for our firefighters, for our EMS workers.
I think that just in this simple conversation that we're having about this and just talking about the memorial,
we have already informed some people about things that they may not know.
The stat that you brought up there and the point that you brought up there about how firefighters have to wear multiple hats.
And have to learn some of these things.
I don't think your average person knows that.
So even getting that education out there, right there, we're showing the mission and how the mission is being fulfilled with this memorial.
Right. And every firefighter, whether they're firefighter or their family or something like that, if you walk up to that statue,
and then you're, you're peripherally, you're going to look at the wall.
I mean, you're going to see the wall and it's black marble.
So that's got a mirror, kind of look to it.
So you're seeing yourself.
Through the names.
So now those names are kind of like a shadow of that person.
I mean, you got to remember these people that are lying to duty deaths.
They have families.
They had wives, husbands, they're DNR pilots.
They have two or three pilots names on that wall.
They're chronologically in order when we first started.
But we knew once you open up that can, that you're going to open that up to these volunteer departments that maybe they have a name on their wall in their office or in their bedroom or whatever it is,
honoring a person that died in the line of duty 30 years ago.
But it just never got the recognition beyond their own station or their city.
Now those are being found.
And there's those names are being processed.
And then they check to make sure they're lying to duty and then go on the wall.
But it's most exciting or rewarding, I guess for me, the first year that we had this done that the wall was actually there.
We just had, we didn't have our lights set up yet for it.
So we had temporary lights.
So we could show the people as they passed with the final alarm procession.
And I saw this young lady walk up there and she was a wife of one of the line of duty.
And she didn't go into the final alarm procession itself, but she walked up to the wall and she just put her hand on his name.
And that always, I'll always remember that because that was the first year it was open.
And that's why we did it.
All the work, all the things you do, I did it for that or all the firefighters for that.
But that's the mission.
We honor all firefighters living to deceased all the work that they put into their careers because it is service through their community.
But we especially remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
So meaningful for those families, for those people that are still with us, to be able to have those moments, I greatly appreciate you sharing that moment with us.
And it gives us a true idea of so much of the mission and the point of a lot of this.
While also giving us citizens and people that may have not known these individuals, but does an opportunity to read these names.
I know at least I do. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I'm positive of it.
Of reading these names of these people that start out as strangers as I'm reading their name.
And as I know why their name is on there, they become heroes to me.
They become people that I look up to, people that I'm inspired by.
And people I hope to be like.
It is so many like multiple layers to it having this memorial here.
And what it can do.
You know, and sometimes it just came popped into my head.
But I was over there one day.
Oh, this is just a couple of years ago already.
You know, just working.
You know, you do some things here and there on that.
And every swath and a bus from challenge, challenge adults will come in.
They want to see the memorial.
And this one gentleman that came off that bus.
He was so excited just to wear a helmet.
And it kind of threw me for a little bit.
You know, sometimes you just, you know, I'm doing it for so many years.
You kind of take things a little bit for granted.
Maybe I looked at that and I said, man, there is somebody.
Who in his mind aspires to be or thinks of the firefighters as his hero.
Somebody that he'd love to be.
And I walked him around and showed him all kinds of things.
And he was just so excited to have that fire helmet on the whole time.
And that's what I also remember.
And then as we come up to the final alarm itself, the day of.
We now have, I'm a, I'm a deacon at our church.
So right now I'm a chaplain over there.
So that's, it's wonderful because the chaplain could go, I'll meet the families like a Ron Noon.
I'll meet the families of those line of duties.
And it's important that you understand what they're going through.
And a lot of times it's not what I say.
It's just being there.
That's all you want, you know, just being there.
I think that's a good note to everybody here.
Sure. Just people in general.
You don't have to necessarily stay anything.
Yeah. So also people in there.
Let's talk a little bit about the final alarm and roll call ceremony time.
And what that is and when that will be taking place.
It takes place on September 28th.
And at 333, 330, 33 minutes after 3.
And there's a significance around that because it's the, basically it's a final alarm for Wisconsin firefighters.
It's a call to duty.
And it's their final alarm.
What you'll hear is, uh, the pages that go off.
The, the radio's silent.
The alarm goes off.
And then they'll read the names of the firefighters from that year that lost their lives in the line of duty or EMS personnel.
And then you'll hear the tone and then the final alarm for these.
Right.
And, uh, it's, it's really, it's hard on the family, but at the same time it's, uh, it's closure.
It's kind of like taps for a veteran.
Yes.
Uh, you know what's coming?
You know it's going to bring tears to your eyes or at least moisten them.
Mm-hmm.
But you want to hear it.
I, uh, I'm talking to some, uh, family members before about this subject.
Uh, years ago, uh, the word healing came up all the time.
And I wouldn't have thought of it until they set it.
If they don't go through that, they don't, the healing process takes time.
Yeah.
Um, it just doesn't happen.
But you need to go through certain stages and order to heal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you skip parts of that, you're going to, it's, it's going to be more of a bumpy road for you.
And that's why we have what we have.
They want to see the name on the wall is important to them.
And they can take a charcoal, uh, a writing of it, you know, with a sheet of paper and rub it on there.
I mean, with the Vietnam veterans memorial.
Uh, it was so important to walk there and see that.
Yeah.
And you can take a rubb enough.
Someone maybe you knew or somebody from the city or city or, or whatever.
So they do that.
Yeah.
And that's important.
They could take that home with them.
It's like a flower from the, uh, the bouquet that was on top of the casket or whatever.
Uh, it's, it has meaning.
Uh, especially in the summer, there's almost, uh, I want to say I feel pretty confident saying there's never been a time I go over there.
And one of those names doesn't have a flower bite or rose by it that's been freshly laid.
Sure.
Um, that, that park and that memorial is constantly being used and seen by people.
And, and, and it adds up to this big day that we have every year where we get to honor, uh, so these people.
Honor, honor.
I would, again, not to speak for others, but I think that our community, I think, uh, we, uh, while we are honoring and, um,
thanking in many ways, uh, the people that we have lost, it is also a reminder of us of the current people that are, are, are doing this.
The current people that are volunteering, the current people that are local communities, that are firefighters that are EMS workers out there.
And hopefully giving us some more empathy and appreciation of them and what they are currently doing.
You know, I've, as a firefighter, I've been retired now 20 years.
It's not hard to believe.
That's a little hard.
You go out while you go out in the mid 50s.
It's a young band sport.
Yeah.
Um, but now 20 years almost has passed.
And I go back as a chaplain at the Rapids Fire Department.
And I'm, I'm looking at these young men and women that are taking over what I did.
And, uh, oh my gosh, they're so advanced.
Uh, we have a tremendous volume just in our own city of calls.
They're, uh, they're running 14, 15 calls a day.
Yeah.
I mean, this is my gosh.
That's a lot.
Yeah.
And you're, that's a lot of pressure in you know, in that these firefighters and EMTs and paramedics,
when I go to these silent, uh, final alarm and things like that,
you gotta remember what they have gone through.
Um, I look back and I've talked to a lot of retirees.
Uh, when I was on in that, I mean, I came on in the 70s.
So I mean, we didn't have critical incident stress debriefing.
Now you do.
You need that.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
If you, because the, the trauma, I mean, you're, you're responding to somebody's call
on their worst day.
Yeah.
And that's all those calls.
That's what every one of those calls.
Yeah.
And there's some wonderful calls.
Yeah.
Delivering babies.
You know, things like that.
Uh, uh, the majority of those calls, the majority of the worst are that.
And that's what I understand.
Even as a deacon, because I went as a firefighter more for the physical part of it.
There are always a spiritual side, always.
Uh, whether they know it or not, you have to, and then now as a deacon,
I'm going as a spiritual advisor or person to pray over somebody that's dying or something.
But they need that physical touch.
Yeah.
And that's what firefighters do.
You don't stand over it person.
You get down to them and help them.
Many of us, um, are here or our homes or our, our things that we, we cherish are here
because of a firefighter, because of an EMS worker.
Um, and not many can say that they, they would not be here without them.
I am one of them.
I, uh, I don't think you know my story, Tom, but I was born real quick.
Born, uh, during a snow storm, uh, in, in a, uh, on a white couch in a small town,
uh, right outside of Chicago and Carroll Stream, Illinois.
Um, they couldn't, my parents could not, they didn't know I was going to be born.
I was very early.
And they, they were, because of the snowstorm, my parents could not get to the hospital.
Uh, they call 911, a, uh, a couple of police officers, but, uh, it was mainly
firefighters and EMT workers that showed up.
And none of them had delivered a baby before.
I've got a little bump at the back of my head here in front of you, uh, because
they were curing around like Simba from the line.
Kicking everything.
Sure.
Uh, I'm literally physically here right now because of those workers, because of
the work that they did there.
Um, it's one of the things and it's one of the reasons why when we have a chance to talk with
you and we have a chance to talk about our firefighters or talk about the final
alarm of the roll call ceremony, uh, I along with many in our community champion this and
want to be right there and, and making sure that we remember and honor these people.
And I, I personally respect and thank you.
And so many of the people that trailblazed and paved the way to get us to this point.
All right.
Thank you very kind of for that.
One more time.
Do you want to remind everybody that the final alarm and roll call ceremony will be taking place
Saturday, September 28th, beginning at 333 at the Wisconsin Fire and EMS Memorial and Ben Hansen
Park at 2031 Second Avenue South.
You can find out more about this by going to visit Rapids, uh, dot com.
That's Visit Rapids.
Wist Rapids dot com.
Sorry.
Visit Wist Rapids dot com.
And be sure to bookmark and find out more about the Wisconsin Fire and EMS Memorial at W F E M dot
org W F E M dot org.
Tom, if people want to reach out to you, is there a way to do that?
Or should we just send them to the website and everything?
I'm always in the phone book.
Sure.
I'm not.
I won't hide that.
I'm in the phone book.
Right.
That's kind to act me.
But, uh, otherwise, I'm a person.
Perfect.
Deakin' over.
Lady Queen, you haven't sold.
And thank you for that.
That sure was there.
Well, I appreciate that.
Well, who would have thought, David?
One of these days.
Service goes beyond one thing, isn't it?
A lot of people called me to another.
One of these days, we're going to have you with just to talk about you, man, because the arc
of your life is fascinating to me.
I'd love to talk more about you with that.
Someday.
Appreciate your time.
Thanks over at the time.
Oh, thank you.
It's been a big thank you to Pam Hilke in the great scheduling that she does week in
a week out for us here at Midday Magazine.
We'll be back next week with more show for you here at 97-5 FM 13-28-WFHR, locally grown
radio.
