Each October, the Seattle Fire Department conducts Light the Night, an annual tribute honoring firefighters who died in the line of duty. Between 8:00 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., Seattle Fire crews pull their apparatus onto station aprons and turn on their red emergency lights in a silent tribute. The event is Oct. 2.
Stations actively responding to emergency calls do not participate.
Community members are invited to visit their local station or install a red exterior light at home during the evening.
Light the Night takes place on the same evening as the annual Seattle Fallen Firefighter Memorial held at Occidental Park. While Seattle's memorial tradition dates back decades, the permanent Occidental Park memorial was dedicated in 1998. It was inspired by the 1995 Mary Pang warehouse fire, which killed four Seattle firefighters. During the daytime ceremony, organizers read aloud the names of all Seattle firefighters lost in the line of duty since 1891.
The event also features a color guard presentation by the Walter Kilgore Memorial Honor Guard, a performance by the Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums, and the ringing of a ceremonial bell for the "last alarm".
The local event aligns with a national program created by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF). The NFFF launched Light the Night for Fallen Firefighters in 2017 during its 25th anniversary to encourage fire departments and landmarks nationwide to illuminate in red during National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend. Seattle adopted the tradition locally and integrated it into its annual observances. By 2024, Light the Night was a standard part of the city's remembrance schedule.
Light the Night extends the daytime ceremony into an evening event that allows residents to participate from home. The red lights across local fire stations create a citywide moment of reflection. Ultimately, the event reinforces the fire service's commitment to "Never Forget" both local line-of-duty deaths and members of the broader national fire service community
