Light the Night grows, honoring fallen firefighters

LACONIA — Bands of red light illuminate the entire Melcher & Prescott building. The Lakeport Opera House glows with crimson globes and LED lights on the balconies. The docks at the NASWA Resort are decked out red, and scarlet electric candles shine from each window of the Busiel Mill.

It’s a heartwarming show of support for anyone who has ever lost a loved one in the line of duty, but especially for Gayle Miller, whose husband, Laconia firefighter Mark Miller, perished 16 years ago while training for water rescue.

The community-wide, once-a-year memorial for fallen firefighters everywhere brings tears to her eyes. “Some people go all out. It’s very touching to see people lighting for my husband or people they’ve never met,” Miller said. “I love the fire service and the Laconia Fire Department itself.”

Roughly three years ago, Miller brought National Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters to Laconia in honor of Lt. Miller, who died while testing new diving equipment in the icy water of Lake Winnipesaukee. His partner surfaced, but Miller did not.

Since 2019, the candle and red bulb lighting has spread beyond Laconia to neighboring towns, attracting newcomers as far as Manchester who have sent Miller photos of their homes shining red on the first weekend in October, honoring the service of firefighters they do not know. Last year, New Hampshire had one of the highest participation rates in the country, according to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

A night-time drive through Laconia, Gilford, Gilmanton Iron Works and Belmont can be a feast for the eyes. Single electric candles or red Christmas lights shine in windows or outside homes. Downtown Laconia sparkles red with lighting at the Colonial Theatre, Busiel House, the Belknap Mill stair tower, and Wilkinson-Beane Funeral Home on Pleasant Street. Sunrise Towers has red lights wrapped around posts outside. Rist Frost Shumway on Water Street has a red electric candle in every window. Happy Cow, Sal’s Pizza, school buildings in the Laconia School District, and homes on Elm Street and Pleasant Street are displaying red.

“It’s a beautiful event. I’ve driven through town to look at the lights,” Miller said. She said her grief never goes away, but this memorial is healing. “This helps me as well as the families going through it. I feel I’m helping somehow by showing support.” Next year she hopes to start a 24-hour ceremonial lighting, naming and speaking about each local firefighter who has died in service. That includes Laconia Fire veterans, Maurice Benwell, who died in 1987 while working a pump at the Laconia Water Works, and Milo Judkins, a Lakeport station captain who died in 1949 after returning from a call.

Between 100 and 200 firefighters lose their lives each year across the country in fires, drownings or rescues, Miller said. Between 2019 and 2020, 227 passed away, including from contracting COVID while helping others, according to firefighter data. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation hopes their lives will be honored, whether through bell ringings, memorial readings, or candle ceremonies.

“It’s not something you think about unless it touches you personally,” Miller said. “This is the most therapeutic thing for me to make people aware of the challenges of the profession. And honor people who serve in other professions that put them in danger. I feel I’m paying it forward in some way. This profession deserves honor.”

So far, 215 people signed up to follow the Laconia area event on Facebook.

Light the Night, which continues now through Sunday, “is very important to us, to our profession and our families, to remember those who have fallen in the duty," said Laconia firefighter Jason Griffin, the department's union president.

Police and firefighters “come to work knowing the inherent risk.  It’s certainly in the back of our mind when we turn out for a call,” Griffin said. “When you see a fire truck coming down the road, it’s not something you think about all the time.  A tragic event happening in the community brings that to the forefront.”