Members of Susquehanna Hose Company in Havre de Grace will join in the ceremony Friday to remember Nathan Flynn, a Howard County firefighter who died in the line of duty last summer.
Flynn, who lived in Havre de Grace and volunteered with Susquehanna Hose, died July 23 battling a seven-alarm house fire in Clarksville.
He will be honored during the 2019 Fallen Heroes Day, a statewide ceremony that recognizes all branches of the public safety community, at 1 p.m. Friday at Dulaney Valley Memorial Garden in Timonium.
“It’s important to be there to support the family and to honor Nate,” Susquehanna Hose Company Chief Scott Hurst said. “He lost his life in the line of duty and we’ve always tried to be there for [Flynn’s wife] Celeste and the kids.”
Flynn had volunteered with the fire company since March 2017 and was part of the House 5 Chapel Road station. Many members also went to school with Flynn’s wife.
He was on the hose company’s swiftwater rescue team and was on Harford County’s technical rescue team.
Flynn, who was posthumously promoted to lieutenant by Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, was a mentor to many of the younger members of Susquehanna Hose, Hurst said.
“He liked teaching and training people. Some really took it hard, especially the young guys who looked up to him,” Hurst said.
The fire service, paid and volunteer, is a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and firefighters take it seriously, he said. That means taking care of the family Flynn left behind.
“Anything she needs. For her and her kids, we try to do whatever we can to make things as easy as possible for them,” Hurst said. “All she has to do is call us and we’ll help get things done.”
Members of the Howard County department where Flynn worked have also taken on that responsibility.
“It’s very nice to see that’s happening,” Hurst said. “Her raising kids as a single parent is a tough thing. Not that it can replace him, but we all do whatever we can.”
Susquehanna Hose’s Chapel Hill house hosted a birthday party for Flynn’s twins just a few weeks after his death and in recent months have helped her move furniture and shovel her driveway. Howard County firefighters came to Havre de Grace to play Santa for their children.
“He’s a fallen firefighter who gave his life in the line of duty, trying to protect life and property,” Hurst said.
The ceremony
Maryland's 9/11 Rolling Memorial will be on site at the Fallen Heroes Day ceremony. The bell that is housed on the memorial will toll as Maryland’s first responders are honored.
Charles “Chuck” Schneider, the father of Fallen Hero Baltimore County Police Officer First Class Jason Schneider, who was honored at the 2014 Fallen Heroes Day Ceremony, will give the Survivor Address, and Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski, Jr. and J. Michael Zeigler, acting secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, will give memorial addresses.
Baltimore County Police Officer Amy Caprio, a Fallston resident, will also be honored at this year’s ceremony.
A presentation to the families of the fallen will follow the addresses and the ceremony will conclude with the children of the fallen heroes placing a wreath at the memorial wall, followed by a 21-gun salute, Taps and a flyover.