The El Dorado Hills Fire Department Honor Guard was established in 2004. Unfortunately, the need for an Honor Guard was not realized until several tragic events occurred in a short period of time.
In 2003, off-duty Fire Captain Dan Nightengale from Foster City Fire was involved in a fatal vehicle accident in the El Dorado Hills area. A few of our current Honor Guard members responded to this tragedy. The Nightengale family had been on vacation when their vehicle was involved in a rollover accident. Dan’s wife, kids, and family dog were left without a husband and father. This incident hit very close to home for the rescuers. A few months after this tragedy, the El Dorado Hills Fire Department incurred one of their own losses. On October 27, 2003, Firefighter Ryan Gabriel Shreve lost his battle to a head injury. His injury occurred while he was enjoying his life outside of work…much like Captain Nightengale’s. These two tragedies sparked the fire within several members of the El Dorado Hills Fire Department to establish The El Dorado Hills Fire Department Honor Guard.
We are a highly trained unit with a total of thirteen members. All members have attended the one-week Goshen Police Department Honor Guard Camp in Indiana or the El Dorado Hills Honor Guard Camp instructed by DFL Honor Guard Training. Several members have also trained with The Old Guard of Fort Myer. We have honored many of our fallen brothers and sisters at different line-of-duty death funerals, the IAFF Annual Memorial, National Fallen Firefighter Memorial, and the CA Firefighter Memorial. Other events we have performed at include Firefighter Academy Graduations, promotional and retirement ceremonies, new fire station openings, and a variety of other venues. Our members train monthly at a minimum and offer our services to those in need. We perform these duties purely voluntarily and are honored to do so.
