To the Editor,
On Sunday, June 30th, 2024, we gathered on the Greenwich-Port Chester border to remember the tragic fire that occurred at Gulliver’s 50 years ago.
I want to thank Port Chester Mayor Luis Marino and Port Chester Village Manager Stuart Rabin for partnering with our Town to make the remembrance a reality. It was an example of the close relationship between our two communities that has long existed and that continues to grow.
I also want to thank the fire and police departments of both Greenwich and Port Chester as well as the many volunteers who attended the ceremony. Several were there that surreal night long ago fighting the fire and rescuing so many, including colleagues that were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation. These first responders, our neighbors, friends, and relatives, experienced something that night that has stayed with them for five decades.
Finally, to the relatives of the 24 young people that perished in the blaze back in 1974, I pledge to continue to work with our friends in Port Chester to get a memorial plaque, sign, or statue placed near the sight so that the memory of the 24 men and women, and the modern day building codes as well as state and Federal laws that followed in the wake of the tragedy, will be acknowledged by all who travel by this location. These codes and laws have saved the lives of untold numbers of people over the past 50 years due to capacity limits for indoor spaces, construction materials, and sprinkler systems as well as the requirement of more than one entrance and exit, things that were not present or required in 1974.
May God bless the victims we lost that day, may He continue to look over their loved ones who never stop thinking about what might have been had this tragic event never happened, and may He continue to bless all those first responders that night and every one that has responded to alarms since that night and who will continue to respond, so that tragedies like the Gullivers fire become something in the distant past.
Fred Camillo
First Selectman
