2008 California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony - Transcript of Gov. Schwarzenegger

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:2008 California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony

Thank you very much, Lou, for your nice introduction. It's always nice to talk to you and to see you and thank you very much for the great job that you are doing.

It is wonderful also to be here today with all of you again, as I have been every year when we have this memorial service, as we pay tribute to our fallen firefighters and their courageous families. I have been, of course, to dozens of different fires since I have been elected. I remember the first time in 2003, right after I was elected - I was still in my transition period - and Governor Davis invited me to come to one of the fires a few days after I was elected. And I will never forget that experience, of seeing those firefighters coming back from their great, great work and being able to thank them.

And since then, I have always enjoyed going to those fires because it gives me a chance to thank them and sometimes even hand out food to them and feed them with Paulson. It's just great to show our appreciation for the great work they're doing and also to step in front of the press and to tell them that we have the greatest firefighters in the world, we have the most experienced, the toughest, the most selfless, best-trained, best-equipped firefighters in the world.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers remarks at 2008 California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony. Photo by Peter Grigsby, Office of the Governor.

We have, of course, a lot of brave firefighters all over the country and all over the world and, no matter where you are, you have to be tough and you have to brave and all of this. But there's nothing like being a California firefighter. Firefighters in New York and Chicago and other cities understand how dangerous it is to rush into a burning building to save someone's life or property. Our firefighters do the same thing, but the next day they may be sent to a fast-moving wildfire whipped by 60-mile-an-hour winds, fires that devour everything in its path.

And with the fire season lasting all year-round now in California, our fire fighters have been tested beyond belief. We have more fires, more dangerous fires, than ever before. This summer we had, at one point, 2,000 fires. We have had fires at world-class tourist attractions like Lake Tahoe, Catalina Island, Big Sur, fires in dense residential communities like San Diego, Orange County and just this week again in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego Counties. Hundreds of thousand of acres were burned. At times it has seemed like the whole state was on fire.

And the whole state would have been on fire if it hadn't been for the great firefighters here in this great state who beat back those flames, beat them back block by block, acre by acre, by people like the ones that we honor and remember here today.

I always say that I play an action hero in my movies, but you firefighters out there, you're the real-live action heroes. When people run out of burning buildings in fear for their lives, our firefighters run in. When people run from wildfires, our firefighters run to them in order to save people and property. They risk their lives day in and day out to save people they don't ever know, they have never even met. How can you be more courageous than that? And the great thing about firefighters is that, no matter how many times you mention to them that you are heroes and you are heroic, they just shrug it off and they say, "No, no, no. This is just our job. This is expected of us."

And sometimes they pay the ultimate price by losing their lives to keep the rest of us safe. Their families never know when they leave in the morning if they ever will see them again and this is why so many firefighters say that it is harder sometimes to be a loved one than it is to be a firefighter. So if you're looking for someone in American society to admire, you don't have to look far. You will find them right here, firefighters and their families. The 1,063 names on the wall of this great memorial underscore the sacrifices that were made and the statue at the back shows the camaraderie engrained in their DNA.

Ladies and gentlemen, we owe more to our brave firefighters and to their families than we ever can repay. I will always be in their debt for the great work that they have done for the great sate of California. And even though they may shrug it off and say, "It is our duty," and "It's our job," and all of those things, but to me you always will be my heroes. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2008Event: Remarks, 2008 California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony, California Firefighters Memorial, State Capitol Park, Sacramento, CA