Family and friends, as well as hundreds of emergency personnel and dignitaries, paid their respects and said their goodbyes to fallen Delaware City Volunteer Fire Company firefighter Michelle Newton Smith Monday morning.
Services were held at the Delaware City Fire Company on Fifth Street. A viewing was held there Sunday evening. More than 20 agencies and companies assisted with the ceremonial duties as well as providing logistical support.
After a service inside the fire hall, hundreds of firefighters and members of the emergency response community from across the state and region assembled in front of the hall, filling the street. Smith’s family followed behind them.
As music played, provided by the bagpipers and drummers of the Camden County Emerald Society, Smith’s casket, draped in an American flag, was carried to a Delaware City fire truck by fellow members of the company. Uniformed firefighters and police officers saluted. Black cloth covered the truck and the fire hall. The truck’s lights and other features also were covered. Flowers were place around the casket, which was loaded on the top of the truck.
The Delaware City truck circled the fire hall as the last alarm was given and county agencies were paged that Smith had passed.
Smith died Dec. 22 from injuries she sustained while responding to a motorcycle accident on U.S. 13 Dec. 20. At the time, Smith was driving an ambulance for Delaware City that was providing coverage for the Wilmington Manor Fire Company. It was called to the scene and as Smith was providing aid to Edward Reiss, 30, they were both hit by a BMW driven by Joseph Taye.
Leaving Delaware City a procession of more than 60 fire and emergency apparata from agencies throughout Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey followed.
Ladder trucks from Wilmington Manor and Christiana Fire Company displayed an American flag at the intersection of Del. 72 and U.S. 13, which symbolizes Michelle’s passing through an archway to heaven.
As the procession made its way down Del. 1, each overpass was draped with an American flag and firefighters saluted. Trucks provided by the Delaware Department of Transportation blocked traffic from getting onto Del. 1 until the procession passed.
At Odd Fellows Cemetery in Smyrna, ladder trucks from the Delaware City Fire Company and Volunteer Hose Company of Middletown displayed an American flag at the cemetery for the same honor.
SMYRNA, Del. —
