ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The International Association of Firefighters plans to honor a local firefighter who died years after battling a major fire in St. Augustine.
Michael Riley was one of the first to respond to a massive fire and explosion at a gas station in 2011.
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He died in 2022, and his family believes his health issues stemmed from the incident.
Riley’s name will be added to a memorial wall in Colorado on Saturday.
It is one way those close to him say they want to keep his memory alive.
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Riley loved his job as a firefighter. It was a career that spanned more than 30 years, including eight with the St. Augustine Fire Department.
Lt. Brandon Seymour with the department says he met Riley in 2009 and they were partners on the same shift.
“Mike was a poster child firefighter with a true passion for the job,” Seymour said. “He was a mentor to many of us, myself included, and just a steward of the craft, a lifelong steward of the craft.”
Seymour, who is also the honor guard commander, and two other firefighters from the St. Augustine Fire Department are going to Colorado Springs for the International Association of Firefighters’ memorial on Saturday.
Riley’s son will be there to receive a memorial flag in his dad’s honor as his name is added to the wall.
“When you think about the ripple effect of his life and his time in our profession and the people that he touched, both within the organization and those that called for help and civilians, many people he impacted and a lifelong career in this profession, we will never know,” Seymour said. “There’s no way of even coming close to the number of people that he impacted in a positive way on a day-to-day basis every shift, every fire, every emergency. That does not go unnoticed and unrecognized.”
Riley was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and Parkinsonism, among other illnesses. His family says his health issues stemmed from the 2011 fire.
Family members say Riley eventually was forced to retire. He lost the ability to walk on his own and could barely speak when News4JAX interviewed him and his wife in 2021.
Riley died in December 2022.
“I think we’re all personally impacted in our own way,” Seymour said of Riley’s death. “Mike was very close to all of us within the department. It was very difficult for all of us to watch him go through his disease. More importantly to watch what his family went through, the struggles and the commitment that they made to keeping him as healthy as they could, for as long as they possibly could, knowing that the inevitable was coming.”
Seymour believes Riley’s name will be the first one ever added to the memorial wall from the St. Augustine Fire Department and hopes it will be the last.
The memorial ceremony is Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. EST.