Firehouse Ad. Policy

[Brian McGowan]

Firehouse Ad. staff, do you proof read your ads?

The more I look at the ad on page 51, for "liteline" the more disgusted I get, was permission asked of the grieving families of these men.
Or their Brothers who have never stopped doing the job, and on a dailey basis feel the pain of that night, but still carry on.


Firehouse Magazine Staff, I know your magazine is a business but please remember who purchases your product and supports you, and like dealing with a friend who has lost a loved one, Please, Please remember we lost SIX!

[Ken Hanks]

Brian:

I agree with you 100%-I was very disgusted by that ad. The ad implies that if only those guys had this product, they would be alive today. Great, with all we need to carry into a burning building now, lets add several hundred feet of electrically powered "rope."

I can understand (but not agree) with how that ad may have been written-some high paid ad writter wants to show us ignorant fire fighters how not to get traped in a fire. You would have thought "someone" at Firehouse Magazine would have rejected it and told Flexlite that it was innappropriate.

I'm going to be writting a few letters this weekend and am encouraging other fire fighters who a angered by this ad to do the same.

[This message has been edited by Ken Hanks (edited September 08, 2000).]

[webteam]

Posted for the Magazine Staff. -WebTeam
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Dear Readers:

We have passed on other people's comments on the ad. I did not see the ad nor do I normally see the ad before the magazine is printed. I understand our office has talked to the individual and he never intended to cause harm or a problem, his words.

I understand he is writing a letter of apology to the editor. I suggested he also send the letter and his thoughts to the
firehouse.com website so that it can be viewed by readers immediately.

We are sorry that it happened. You are correct. We will work to see that this never happens again.

In my own interview with the first due chief from Worcester we never even discussed the specific radio traffic that was used.

Hope that will hopefully solve the problem and addresses your concern.

After all the work we went through to get the story, provide the pictorial review of the memorial service and the sponsoring of the seminar to provide funds for the firefighters memorial in Worcester, plus much more, we would never wanted to have this happen.

We will review the ads more carefully in
the future.

Very truly yours,
Harvey Eisner
Editor-in-Chief

[webteam]

Frank Raffa
President
Worcester Fire Fighters Assoc
Local 1009 IAFF
625 Chandler Street
Worcester, MA 01602

September 12, 2000

Dear President Raffa:

An advertisement ran in the September issue of Firehouse ® Magazine that was displeasing, and we have heard from readers who believe we should have not accepted the ad. We will not offer excuses, but we will offer a sincere apology to our readers, members of the fire department and family members who were upset and hurt by this ad.

A mistake was made and we will work to see that it never happens again. We hope that the readers of the magazine can realize it was a mistake and judge us on our future actions.

We hope that this will clear the air. We take great pride in providing the fire service with a first-rate publication.

Firehouse® has taken a great interest in saving lives and educating the fire service since 1976. We always try to do the right thing. We publicized the tremendous outpouring of the 30,000-plus firefighters from around the world who attended the Worcester Memorial in December 1999. We obtained the go-ahead to interview the first incident commander from Worcester, and we
secured permission for the same incident commander to present the keynote address at the recent Firehouse Expo in Baltimore. We did this to provide an insight into what happened so that we don't lose any more firefighters. The reason behind our being a sponsor of the Worcester Memorial Firefighters Safety and Training Seminar in September was to support the members of the Worcester Fire Department, IAFF Local 1009, and to raise money for the memorial to the firefighters killed in the line of duty.

We have worked with various members of the Worcester Fire Department in each of these endeavors and we have supported each other. We would never intentionally do something to discredit ourselves or to hurt members of the fire service or the families of the firefighters killed in the line of duty. That's the last thing we would ever do.

We hope that this will be of some consolation to those hurt or offended by this lapse, and reaffirm our commitment to hold ourselves to the highest standards.

Sincerely,

Harvey Eisner
Editor-In-Chief
Firehouse ® Magazine

[This message has been edited by WebTeam (edited September 12, 2000).]

[Lampking]

From the above readings I see that you guys realize maybe something nvery sensitive has slipped by you. I want to thank you for addmitting you messed up and not trying to blame someone else or just blow it off. I do however want to voice my opposition to the use of those sacred words spoken by those brother firefighters. I would encourage all firefighters to share thier opposition with Firehouse to assure this does'nt happen again, and also to flexliteusa.com, the writers of this very disheartening advertising gimic!!!!!

[RescueKujo]

Dear Firehouse Magazine,
Thank you for your acknowledgement of the mistake in allowing the ad from Flexlite and your apology. I believe that it was not intentional and was an oversight as was noted. All I ask is as you said, that in the future the ads will be looked at more intently and ads like Flexlite's will not be run. We can not allow companies like Flexlite to make money off Firefighters' deaths.

[HYFD802]

Thank you Firehouse, for taking the high road and offering apologies and corrections as soon as you became aware of this issue. It doesn't make the ad right, but it shows you are professional and willing to correct problems.
It would be even more professional if the company that created the ad, apologized as well. Presently the only use I have for the light rope is to lead the ad executive responsible for this insult to the unemployment line.

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