ALBANY -- A Troy firefighter who died almost 90 years ago joined five men who gave their lives in the past decade on the wall of the state Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
For Tuesday morning's ceremony, the Empire State Plaza's southern end featured ladder trucks supporting huge American flags, and scores of firefighters in ceremonial dress.
One of the nine names added to the wall this year was that of Charles H. Vandecar, a 26-year-old World War I veteran who died in 1922 from injuries sustained when a floor collapsed during a blaze at the Rome & Cohen Rag Shop between River and First streets in Troy.
Two other firefighters who perished in the same incident are already memorialized.
The most recent loss was Capt. Vincent A. Iaccino of the Roosevelt Fire Dept. in Dutchess County, who died in April 2010 during a training exercise.
The annual memorial event drew state officials including James Sherry, acting commissioner of the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, and Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Elizabeth Glaser. State Sens. Roy McDonald, Cathy Young and Betty Little stood in for Majority Leader Dean Skelos, while Assembly members Steve Englebright, Bob Reilly, James Conte, Jack McEneny and Tony Jordan represented Speaker Sheldon Silver.
In his remarks, Englebright said the nine men honored and the rest of those named on the wall were "great New Yorkers who exemplify the American spirit."
There are now 2,366 names inscribed on the memorial just north of The Egg, behind Robert Eccleston's dramatic cast bronze sculpture depicting two firefighters dragging a fallen comrade to safety.
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