PHOTOS: Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance

Firefighters carry flags representing their station during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Motorcycle riders meet at University Village Shopping Center to prepare for the Ride of Honor, where they will drive about 5 miles to the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Motorcycle riders and fire trucks young and old meet at University Village Shopping Center to prepare for the Ride of Honor, where they will drive about 5 miles to the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Aurora Fire Department Station 15 Engineer Dave Hamam cleans a 1955 C Grade Fire Pumper nicknamed, ‘Big John,’ for the Ride of Honor on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Motorcycle riders and fire trucks young and old meet at University Village Shopping Center to prepare for the Ride of Honor, where they will drive about 5 miles to the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Two motorcycle riders hold hands while preparing for the Ride of Honor on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Florida’s Apopka Fire Department Honor Guard Commander Jerimiah Williams prepares to be the flag bearer for fellow fire fighter Austin Duran who died in 2022 during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Commander Williams presented Duran’s family the flag during the ceremony. (Gabi Broekema)

Families, friends and fellow firefighters respect and remember 572 fallen firefighters during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Judy Simonetti of New York looks at the newest addition to the memorial alongside the crowds of others trying to get etchings of their loved one’s names before the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Families, friends and fellow firefighters respect and remember 572 fallen firefighters during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Cayden Viviano, 6, is consoled by his mother Laura Viviano of New York, New York before the start of the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Cayden’s father Christopher Viviano died after a long struggle with a lung disease that developed after working on 9/11 combined with contracting COVID-19. (Gabi Broekema)

As families and friend bustle and crowd the from to the new section of the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial, Nancy Komenda-Rapp of Indianapolis, Indiana takes a quiet moment on the opposite side of the wall featuring the new etchings of the 572 fallen fire fiighters in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Komenda-Rapp was visiting to honor her husband Mark Rapp who passed away in 2022. (Gabi Broekema)

The Ride of Honor makes its way down Pikes Peak Avenue opening the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Families, friends and fellow firefighters respect and remember 572 fallen firefighters during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday. (Photos by Gabi Broekema, The Gazette)

FAR LEFT: Nicole Harris remembers her father George Harris during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday. (Gabi Broekema)

Families, friends and fellow firefighters respect and remember 572 fallen firefighters during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Yvonne Kotelko remembers husband Ronald Ellie during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Jamie Spinella remembers her passed husband Jeffery Thomas Ruzzo during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Michael Wilkins of London, Ontario, Canada, remembers his father Harold J. Wilkins during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. Just like his father, Michael serves with the London Fire Department. (Gabi Broekema)

Firefighter bear flags for their fallen comrades during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

Gina Reed of Huston, Texas, remembers her son Tanner Graham Reed who she lost to COVID-19 in 2021 during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday, September 16, 2023. (Gabi Broekema)

ABOVE AND LEFT: Families, friends and fellow firefighters respect and remember 572 fallen firefighters during the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial 2023 Observance in Memorial Park on Saturday. (Gabi Broekema)