Alberta firefighters buried one of their own yesterday while urging the province to add to the list of "presumptive" job-related cancers it recognizes for compensation. That includes esophageal cancer, the disease that killed Capt. Alexander Fred Harris a week ago.The union has declared Harris's death "a line of duty death" and gave him a grand send off yesterday afternoon as hundreds of firefighters marched through downtown to the First Presbyterian Church to bid farewell to the 53-year-old who died June 20.
A fleet of fire trucks lined 100 Avenue and 105 Street and a large Canadian flag fluttered in the air, hoisted by two fire truck ladders, while a bagpiper played a solemn tune.
Mourners hugged, held hands and looked on with tears in their eyes as a group of eight pallbearers unloaded Harris's casket from a fire truck adorned with a funerary wreath and black drapes.
After the service, a flag-folding ceremony was held. The Maple Leaf and Harris's cap were presented to his wife, Sharon Harris, followed by a Last Bell Ceremony. His body was later interred at Glory Hill Cemetery.
"Capt. Harris was the type of man where within 10 mins of meeting him, you felt like he had been your best friend your whole life," said Greg Holubowich, president of Edmonton Firefighters' Union. "He was a firefighter's firefighter who was always concerned about the people he helped. You always trusted he had your back in a fire."
Holubowich said Harris, a married father of two grown children and a 30-year fire veteran had been preparing for retirement and had even planned to open a business restoring antique cars before he was struck by the illness.
Article from the Edmonton Sun
Becky Harmata
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