Why are there Red Lights on an Old Lyme Fire Station? Answer: ‘Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters’

OLD LYME—The Old Lyme Fire Department has announced Station 38 on Lyme Street will be lit red this week as part of a national initiative to honor fallen firefighters, including Wethersfield firefighter Robert Sharkevich. 

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is inviting fire departments and homes across the country to “light up red” through May 4 to honor 70 firefighters killed in action last year. 

The Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters effort will culminate with the foundation’s 44th National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend. Ceremonies will honor the 70 firefighters who died in 2024 as well as 70 from previous years.

Lt. Jessica Rand in a post for the Old Lyme Fire Department on social media said Sharkevich lost his life last October while battling a large brush fire in Berlin that burned over 120 acres on Lamentation Mountain. 

The utility task vehicle he was operating rolled over a steep, rocky incline, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.  He died at the scene. 

The week-long Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters effort is capped on May 3 with a candlelight service and May 4 with the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. 

“We wish we didn’t need that ceremony, but we will light it up red this week to honor them too,” Rand wrote.

The national candlelight service and memorial service will be livestreamed at weekend.firehero.org and on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation YouTube channel.