Binghamton Firefighters Remembered 40 Years Later

A remembrance service is being held September 29 for three Binghamton firefighters who lost their lives trying to rescue rafters at the Rockbottom Dam forty years ago.

Fire Chief Don Cox, Firefighter John Russell and Captain Donald McGeever drowned in 1975 when they responded to a call concerning two rafters who were swept over the dam and trapped in the current.

September 28, one rafter was pulled from the raging Susquehanna River and firefighters returned for the second when their boat capsized.  Two of those firefighters and the second rafter got out. But 26 year old Firefighter Russell drowned.

The next day, Chief Cox and Captian McGeever drowned when their boat also overturned as they and Lieutenant Robert Dale had tried to retrieve Russell's body.

The September 29 service is to be held at 10 a.m. at the north shore of the Rockbottom Dam.