There were not many dry eyes in the house following a slide show honoring the late Capt. Erik Steciak, memorialized by the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company, was shown at the department's annual banquet Saturday night.
The presentation inside the Richlin Ballroom in Abingdon was the main reminder of the tragedy that struck the fire company on Jan. 6, when Capt. Steciak, a fire captain in Howard County as well as a paid paramedic for Bel Air, was struck an killed by an emergency vehicle in the line of duty on Patterson Mill Road.
West Friendship Volunteer Fire Department's President Carroll Roles and Chief Mickey Day were among those joining Bel Air at the banquet to remember Capt. Steciak.
"It's a sad way to meet a fellow fire company but we're very blessed to have had Erik as a member of West Friendship and Bel Air," Roles said after the event.
He said Capt. Steciak joined West Friendship, as have many other young people, and became "a very accomplished paramedic."
Day pointed out that both Bel Air and West Friendship are both Company No. 3 in their respective counties, and "Erik spent a lot of time at West Friendship talking about the friends he made at Bel Air."
"We're so thankful they invited us up here," he added.
The slide show featured photos of Capt. Steciak and from his funeral and memorial services, as the Bryan Adams song "Never Let Go" played.
Rick Ayers, deputy manager for the county's Department of Emergency Services, told the fire company members he has always heard Bel Air was very "professional" and he saw that personally after Capt. Steciak's death.
"I saw your fire company come together like I have never seen before," Ayers, who was representing Harford County Executive Barry Glassman at the banquet, said.
BAVFC President Tony Coliano, who was honored for 40 years of service, said although firefighters regularly talk about their brotherhood and sisterhood, "I can tell you those two weeks and that one weekend [around Capt. Steciak's death], you could feel the brotherhood and you could feel the sisterhood."
"I was taken aback by the outpouring of support from companies as far as Canada, Virginia, southern Maryland," he added.
Also at the banquet, Mark Ensor was honored as the top fire responder for 2014, with 1,151 calls, and Mike Fields was the top EMS responder, with 346.
Fields, the company's EMS assistant chief, wrote in his speech for the banquet program that learning to prepare for handling an Ebola virus case was among the issues with which the BAVFC dealt in the past year..
"In conjunction with the Department of Emergency Services, BAVFC provided one of the 'Ebola ready' medic units for Harford County to transport an Ebola patient if the need arose," he wrote.
The other top EMS responders were: Jim Plumer, with 121 calls; Ashley Stansfield, 124; Bev Britton, 126; James Drake, 127; Daniel Houck; 143; Jason Langenfelder, 166; Denise Collins, 184; Leigha Reader, 209; and Ed Beksinski, 241.
The other top fire responders were: Jim Rainwater, with 503 calls; Jordan Bosse, 527; Joel Carr, 537; Scott McNutt, 562; Rob Claridge, 564; Gus Everhardt, 569; Adam Siemek, 594; Aaron Bellmyer, 636; Eddie Hopkins, 652; Steve Brown, 693; Kevin Kadolph, 734; Mike Fields, 735; Bill Snyder, 738; Mark Johnson, 746; Will Price, 751; Richard Presberry, 773; Ron Britton, 888; and Rick Davis Jr., 973.
The largest number of calls Bel Air's emergency medical crews responded to in the past years came from Avondale, followed by Expresscare locations on Route 22 and at the Festival at Bel Air, Rock Spring Village and Lorien Bel Air.