As a cold breeze whipped the flags above the Watertown Fire Station on the brightest afternoon in weeks, Watertown Fire Chief Mario Orangio led his men outside in front of the bays housing the ladder truck, engines and ambulances that were busy all day long, rushing out to calls.
In the wind they stood waiting for a moment to remember.
And at 2:50 p.m., Monday, April 22, precisely a week to the minute when a pair of bombs shattered the normal bustle near the finishing stretch of the Boston Marathon, Orangio ordered his men to attention and acknowleged a moment of silence for the four killed and hundreds wounded at the hands of two brothers who planted bombs and shot cops in fits of terrorism.
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Small groups and individuals joined the department in a minute's salute.
While Orangio said his men were no heroes like the Watertown Police and other law enforcement personnel, who ran into a hail of bullets, his men were responsible for saving the life of the MBTA officer who was shot in the leg and bled out.
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"It was through training and practice that lives were saved," Orangio said.
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