GJFD hosts open house and 9/11 remembrance ceremony

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - On Sunday, the Grand Junction Fire Department hosted an open house at Fire Station 3.

“If you see next door, we’re tearing down the old station,” said Fire Cheif Ken Watkins. “We built this new station to accommodate growth and, you know, have a better station for our troops to respond out of.”

Chief Watkins said the station is really designed for safety and response time.

“The stations are designed with air filtration systems and good separation from the base to the living quarters so that we keep the firefighters as safe as possible,” said Watkins. “Then the other thing is they’re designed so that no matter where the firefighter is in the fire station, they can get to the trucks quickly for response.”

During the open house, a remembrance ceremony honored the 415 first responders who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

“It was the single largest loss of fire firefighter lives on a single incident ever,” said Watkins. “So it is a huge issue for us in the first responder community. But what’s also important is that we also want the community not to forget that either.”

To honor the memory of the first responders, the community planted flags out in front of the fire station.

“Those flags will stay up for the week to help the community recognize as they pass by the fire station that we are remembering those lives lost from those firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and paramedics that passed,” said Watkins.