'They paid the supreme price': Edmonton firefighters honour 4 new line-of-duty deaths

Active and retired Edmonton Fire Rescue Services members honoured firefighters who had died as a result of their job at a memorial on Sunday.

Every year, EFRS hosts the remembrance ceremony on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks in New York City that killed hundreds of firefighters.

Four new names were added to the list of Edmonton firefighters who had died in the line of duty. All were retired members who died in the past two years from occupation-related cancers.

One active EFRS firefighter was also recognized Sunday, who died while off-duty.

After each name was read, family members were given the chance to ring the memorial's bell, symbolizing their fallen loved one's final alarm.

While fire crews are constantly training, learning, and upgrading gear or tactics, Fire Chief Joe Zatylny said there continues to be risks with the job.

"I would like to see the time when we don't see line-of-duty deaths," Zatylny said. "It is a profession with a lot of dangers, and even the gear that they are wearing has impacts to their health."

"Every day, our firefighters, they answer that bell, and every day that might be their last bell," Zatylny said. "Today is a day where we can honour them and recognize them for those sacrifices."

Retired captain Rob Cavell read aloud every fallen firefighter's name, including some he worked with or whom he had been taught by.

"They paid the supreme price by putting themselves in front of the citizens, putting themselves in danger," Cavell said. "In a lot of these cases, these men have passed away long before they would've expected to, had they not been firefighters."

Cavell explained that EFRS considers a line-of-duty death to be anyone that occurs throughout the course of a member's career or due to a directly related illness.

Family members of fallen firefighters rang the bell at the Edmonton Firefighters Memorial Plaza as a symbol of their loved one's last alarm (CTV News Edmonton/Dave Mitchell).

"After 30 years of exposing your body to the carcinogens which are present in all the structures and absorbing those that are causing your body to decay and breaks down that much faster, you wouldn't have as a regular citizen," Cavell said.

"It's a fantastic career," Cavell added, "but it does bring an awful lot of stress mentally, physically and emotionally, and at some point, it can take its ultimate toll."

Darrell Kryskow recently lost his father, who had been a firefighter for 28 years and had retired as a captain.

While the ceremony was emotional, Kryskow said he found comfort in the support of community members and other families.

"The loss of a love one is everything," he told CTV News Edmonton. "All these gentlemen and women that are here partaking today are looking after the citizens of this city."

"There's no words aside from gratitude to say thanks."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Dave Mitchell