More than 200 pay respects to fallen Ontario firefighters

More than 200 people gathered at a service in Toronto on Sunday to pay their respects to 79 firefighters whose names have been added to a memorial at Queen's Park.

The Ontario Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial now has 683 names etched on it. Twenty of the names added to the list were firefighters from Toronto Fire Services.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne told the memorial service that it's important to show gratitude to firefighters because they risk their lives to rescue others.

"It takes a remarkable combination of bravery, commitment and compassion to enter a burning building while everyone else is running in the opposite direction. Our children look up to firefighters. We all do," Wynne said.

"Firefighters are the closest things that we have to real life super heroes. But they aren't super heroes. You know that. They are people. They are moms and dads, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. And their loss is felt deeply by their families, their units and the entire community that they pledge to protect."

The afternoon service drew firefighters from across Ontario and their families.

The memorial itself includes the Maltese Cross, an international symbol of firefighting, and a bronze sculpture of a modern-day firefighter rescuing a child from peril, with a black granite monolith representing a building behind the statue.