By Richard Carrier
Contributing Writer

On Saturday March 8, the Macon District Volunteer Fire Department will hold a second Flagpole Dedication Ceremony. The Powhatan Company 3 ceremony will honor Kevin M. Prior, a member of Squad 252 FDNY and the Bellmore New York Volunteer Fire Department, who lost his life at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, while responding to the terrorist attack with Squad 252. His body was recovered the following day.

This is the second such dedication Company 3 and the Woodman of the World Insurance Company have sponsored at the Buckingham Road facility. On September 1, 2003 the first flagpole was dedicated in memory of Adam D. Rand, who also lost his life in the 9/11 attack. Rand was also a member of FDNY Squad 252 and his hometown Bellmore Volunteer Fire Department.

The 27-year-old Prior was a full time fire fighter with Squad 252 and, like Rand, volunteered with his hometown fire company. He was single. Prior’s mother Marian and father Jerald will attend the ceremony. His mother is scheduled to deliver an address following Company 3 Chaplain Rick Butcher’s invocation.

Prior’s aunt and uncle, several cousins, as well as a contingent of his comrade fire fighters from both Squad 252 and the Bellmore unit, are also expected to attend the ceremony.

Macon District Volunteer Fire Department now includes both Rand and Prior as Honorary members and, “we hope this monument to two fellow firemen will bring closure to two fine families and the Volunteer Fire Department of Bellmore, NY,” said Company 3 Fire Chief R.G. ‘Bobby’ Smith III.

The ceremony will be held at 12 noon on the 8th at Company 3’s fire station on Old Buckingham Road.