The Wildland Firefighter Foundation held its first Family Day, an event for the families of fallen wildland firefighters over the 2005 Memorial Day weekend in May.

Some 130 family members attended the event at the WFF headquarters in Boise, Idaho. According to Melissa Schwagerl, office manager of the WFF, those in attendance had lost firefighters from as far back as the 1994 Storm King fire and as recently as this year.

Families visited the Wildland Firefighters National Monument, the National Interagency Fire Center and a smokejumper base. They released balloons carrying their loved one's name or a message in them.

"We really tried to make it special, but keep an informal tone to it. We held it right here in our building and had a barbecue and had stuff for the kids to do,” said Schwagerl.

Families that attended said they’d like to have the event yearly, she said. “The overwhelming response we’ve received is they loved being here, meeting the other families, seeing the Foundation,” said Schwagerl.

Next year, the WFF hopes to set up a mock fire camp, so that families can experience how wildland firefighters live. “We’ll set it up close by and let them eat just like they might eat at fire camp and see what it was like," said Schwagerl.

The WFF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting the families of injured and fallen wildland firefighters. To become a member of the WFF's 52 Club, members pledge a buck a week for the year -- $52 -- to support WFF activities.

For more information, visit www.wffoundation.org or e-mail info@wffoundation.org.