What a Fourth of July. The weather was lousy, but I was in the middle of the Triple Crown of patriotic holidays, with flapping flags, overflowing craft-fair tents and brats on the grill.

It started early with the pancake breakfast at the Baileys Harbor (Wis.) Fire Department. You paid your money, got a plate and "caught" your breakfast. The cook actually flipped the pancakes in the air at you from 10 feet away, while the butter-syrup guy teased you by squirting a string of butter at you. Quick wake-up!

I enjoyed just sitting and watching the activities outside the fire station. The local volunteer fire departments got together and pitched in to set up breakfast, the parade and fireworks later that night. Each town up and down the peninsula has its own fund-raising activity over the summer, so fire departments help one another.

The parade offered good photo opportunities of fire trucks and a human-size Sparky. Then I spotted the bright, cherry-red Hummer with "WIN ME!" written on both sides. It ended up parked in front of the fire station.

It turns out that Corey Johnson, former firefighter from the Amherst Volunteer Fire Department, was selling raffle tickets to win the Hummer or one of more than 1,000 other prizes. All proceeds from the raffle will go to the Wisconsin State Firefighters Memorial Park Project Development.

Johnson told me he quit his two jobs to work full-time on this fund-raiser for the state memorial. While working a fire in October 2003 Johnson was six feet away when a fellow firefighter on his crew dropped dead from a heart attack. His department had never lost a firefighter before and was at a loss for how to handle it, but support came in from fire departments across the state and sympathy cards arrived from across the country.

Johnson and his department eventually went through Critical Incident Stress Management, but he personally felt he needed to do something more for his fallen comrade.

A friend of Johnson's was on the board for the state memorial to fallen firefighters and got him involved. Since that time, Johnson has traveled the state promoting the raffle to raise funds for the memorial. Of the 836 departments in Wisconsin, Johnson has visited more than 500 fire departments and 350 have signed up to participate. They had hoped to sell 100,000 tickets, but currently only 12,000 tickets are sold. The drawing is Saturday, Aug. 13. For more information about the raffle, see www.wsfmraffle.com. Plans for the memorial are online at www.wsfm.org.

It seems there's some controversy over the fact that some people wanted the State Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Wisconsin's capital of Madison. Others wanted it in the ever-popular Milwaukee. Some chiefs won't support it because it's a volunteer effort, while others don't see the need for it. (Isn't that bad karma?) The memorial park ultimately wound up in Wisconsin Rapids -- the center of the state -- so that firefighters across the state would have equal access.

Does your state have a memorial for fallen firefighters? How does it raise funds to support it? Is there a Web site? Send me the information in an e-mail (subject line: State Memorials) and we'll post next month in a special Command Post report.

Firefighters' tireless commitment to fund-raising never ceases to amaze me. What's crummy weather on the Fourth of July, when the spirit of the American fire service is so obvious?

Janet Wilmoth, Editor