CENTRAL SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Jack Quinn's Irish Pub in downtown Colorado Springs has become more than just a restaurant and bar during Fallen Firefighter Memorial weekend — it's a gathering place where firefighters from across North America come together to honor those who gave their lives.
The pub's walls are lined with jackets, helmets, and plaques collected over more than 25 years, representing fire departments from across the continent.
Patrick Tripodi, a retired deputy fire chief from Stamford, Connecticut, has been making the trip to Colorado Springs since 2002 — a year after the Sept. 11 attacks added many names to the Fallen Firefighter Memorial.
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"Just being here, even if my department didn't lose anybody, it really meant a lot to the families and the widows and the widowers, and we felt that we really made a difference," Tripodi said.
His department is honoring one fallen firefighter this year at the memorial ceremony.
Tripodi has left his own mark on the pub over the years. The "Fun Brothers" plaque can be found at the bar.
"There's a plaque on the wall that we presented to them one year. Some of our helmets are hanging on the walls here," Tripodi said.
For him, the pub is a place where shared experiences bridge geographic divides.
"I could be talking to a firefighter from New York, next to Connecticut where I worked, or I'd be talking to a firefighter from Kamloops, British Columbia, and we speak the same language. Accents a little different, but we speak the same language and we have the same stories," Tripodi said.
Scott Williams, a fire prevention officer from Ottawa, Ontario, is attending for his second year. His department is honoring 5 members who have passed away due to occupational illness.
"We're just all wired very similarly. So a firefighter in Canada, a firefighter in the states, a firefighter in Europe, we're all cut from the same cloth," Williams said.
Williams said the gathering carries a deeper purpose beyond remembrance.
"We're all here to remember our fallen, but we're also here to bond together and resilience through unity and strength," Williams said.
He said firefighters also discuss the changes they're seeing in the industry when it comes to the gear they wear.
"We come here to remember we come here to basically mourn our loss, but we also come here to work together and to improve things and to try to make sure that we don't keep increasing the names on this wall," Williams said.
Cooper Davidson, general manager of Jack Quinn's, said the connection to the memorial runs deep for many of the pub's returning guests.
"We hear tons of stories of people coming back years and years, you know, maybe their family member passed away in 2001 with 9/11 or sometime after that, and they still come back year after year to see their family member's name on the wall," Davidson said.
He said every year, he sees similar people. People like Tripodi.
Davidson said this is the restaurant's second busiest weekend of the year. All hands are on deck, and extra stock was ordered to prepare.
"The liquor goes all the way down to the wall, everything from mostly Irish whiskeys and then all the Wells and Tito's and Jack Daniel's and cordials and other drinks that these guys will have over the next 3 to 4 days," Davidson said.
He also said they increase prep cooks and made extra corned beef for the weekend.
Beyond food and drinks, the pub gives back to the local firefighter union by selling challenge coins — a tradition with its own set of rules.
"People trade, and a lot of the firefighters will, whoever pulls out their coin, whoever doesn't have theirs, will have to buy the round for the group," Davidson said.
For Tripodi, though, the significance of returning to Jack Quinn's goes far beyond the drinks and camaraderie.
"You look at everything here and then do a clip of the wall, and that's really the significance of all of this here. And we're here for those men and women that gave their lives and we're here for the families. And I might be here in a wheelchair someday, but as long as I can keep coming, I'm going to come here," Tripodi said.
