SCRANTON, Pa. — The list of names on Scranton's fallen firefighter memorial along Mulberry Street is a list Chief John Judge never wants to see get any longer.
"I remember just a few weeks ago I heard something outside and it was them actually sandblasting the names on there, and I hope I never have to hear that again," said Chief Judge.
2020 took its toll on the department.
Lieutenant James Togher died in May of 2020 of job-related cancer after serving the city of Scranton for 29 years.
Firefighter Stephen Sunday, just 28 years old, died in December from complications with COVID-19.
He was one of the department's newest recruits.
Their names were added to a list going back more than a century—the department's line of duty deaths.
"We're exposed to a lot of different things over the course of a career, you know? And none of them being good a lot of times," Chief Judge added.
Judge said the department didn't want 2021 to end without honoring the lives lost the year before. The department held a solemn ceremony Sunday honoring both men.
Stephen Sunday's family donated a family heirloom, a firefighter's bell, to the department in Stephen's memory.
Togher and Sunday's names are now on the firefighter's memorial outside Scranton City Hall and Fire Headquarters, permanently a part of Scranton's history.
"The monument and the memorial is a good way to remember them, being so close to fire headquarters, we're able to keep them in the forefront of our minds, which is nice," the Chief said.