Carolina Brotherhood ride honors fallen first responders in York County

A group of police, firefighters and other first responders from South Carolina and North Carolina are cycling through both states in memory of their colleagues who have died in the line of duty.

On Tuesday, the Carolina Brotherhood riders passed through York County, where temperatures neared 100 degrees on the hot pavement.

“We purposely do it in the heat of the summer, we purposely go uphill, to pay tribute and homage to brothers and sisters who have lost their lives in the line of duty,” Charlotte firefighter James Squittieri said. “We will get to go home at night, we will get to hug on our kids, and they won’t.

“If it was easy, anybody could do it, and I don’t think it would mean as much.”

Retired Charlotte firefighter Bingham Hefner said the ride started in honor of Charleston firefighters killed while fighting a 2007 furniture store fire.

“We lost nine firefighters in one single fire,” Hefner said. “(We’re riding so) that they’re not going to be forgotten, that their lives didn’t go in vain.

“This year, we’re honoring every recognized line-of-duty death since they began keeping records, up until 2016.”

The riders planned to spend Tuesday night at the Elks Lodge in Rock Hill before heading out Wednesday morning for Salisbury, N.C.

The ride – which began with a Monday stretch from Columbia to Greenville – has two more North Carolina legs before ending in Raleigh.

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Carolina Brotherhood ride honors fallen first responders in York County."