Memorial ride, fire hall open house set

The Thompson Falls Rural Fire Department and the Clark Fork Valley Elks have teamed up to commemorate the tragic events of September 11, 2021 on its 20th anniversary. On Saturday, Sept. 11, the Elks will saddle up into their patriotically decorated side-by-sides and ride the length of Main Street in a procession with fire trucks and any other first responders that wish to participate. They will ride down to the fire hall, just past the post office, and then back to the Elks lodge.

They will meet at the Elks lodge at 3:30 p.m. and ride at 4:30 p.m. “We just want to make sure people don’t forget,” said Bernice Robbins, the secretary for the Thompson Falls Rural Fire Department trustees, Robbins, who has been with the fire hall for four years, explained that the hall has a memorial dedicated to those lost on 9/11. “We wanted to be more involved this year and tie it in with our open house,” she added.

All visitors are welcome, and the memorial will be the star attraction during the open house. “They lost 343 firefighters that day, and it could easily have been our firefighters in some other incident. They are a brotherhood,” said Robbins. The memorial features some of the wreckage from the terror attacks in New York, which came from a local whose husband died when the towers came down. According to Robbins, Craig Miller was working in one of the towers at the time. His wife Holly (Headley), who later moved to Thompson Falls, wished to help remember him and others who were lost that day, so she worked with the fire department to put the memorial in and get the pieces to display with it. According to Robbins, Fox News in Seattle is going to include the memorial in a special 9/11 broadcast presentation, where Miller will be featured.

The open house will start at 4:30 and will allow the community to see the firefighters’ equipment, including a new fire truck the department received last year. There will be cake, bottled water and brochures that talk about the memorial. Volunteers will also hand out items like coloring books, key fobs, magnets, rulers and more during the open house.

The fire department is conducting a poster contest for students at Thompson Falls Elementary School. Students in grades second through fourth will submit designs to be posted on the fire engines during the patriotic ride on September 11. Three winners from each grade will be selected and will get to a ride in the engines during the drive through town. First place winners will also receive $20, second place will receive $15 and third place will receive $10. “It’s a great organization,” said Mike Flaman, the secretary for the members of the rural fire department. “We’ve got some real dedicated and smart people.”