Firehouse is pleased to announce the newest honorees in our Community Service Awards program.
1. Africa Fire Mission
Various departments; founded by Cincinnati-area firefighters
The Africa Fire Mission (AFM) was founded in 2012 by a group of Cincinnati-area firefighters from both career and combination departments. Since that time, the organization has collected five large shipping containers of outdated PPE for use in Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, where firefighters have virtually nothing to protect themselves while fighting fires or handling auto accidents and EMS calls. Members of the AFM now include firefighters from across the United States and Canada who have traveled to these countries on four occasions to issue PPE and train them on how to use it and apply safe and effective operational tactics. The latest trip to Kenya, in November 2015, also provided the first-ever Kenyan Fire Academy in which the Nairobi International Airport Fire Brigade hosted firefighters from throughout that country. This countrywide train-the-trainer concept has now become the model for AFM to host training academies in the other three countries they now serve. More importantly, the AFM has fostered a firefighter-to-firefighter partnership that spans international borders. To learn more about the AFM, its fire training mission and those individuals from all ranks of the fire service who have taken their personal time to meet, instruct and educate firefighters in third-world Africa, visit africafiremission.org.
2. Lunch Buddies Program for Seniors
Puppy Creek, NC, Fire Department
The Puppy Creek, NC, Fire Department developed a “lunch buddies” program with an assisted living center located in the fire district. On a monthly basis, firefighters visit the facility and have lunch with the residents there. Many times the elderly residents have been abandoned by family members, limiting their contact with the outside world. The firefighter lunch visits are a welcomed occasion, and it brings some normalcy to their lives. Communication between the firefighters and residents allows for a better working relationship with firefighters on responses, as the residents have become familiar with the responders and are therefore less fearful in emergency situations. In an emergency, a face that a person is familiar with is calming. Firefighters have an opportunity to show their equipment as well. Not only do the residents benefit from the visits, but so do the responders, who get a better understanding of how to best communicate with the elderly patients. This program brings happiness to a group of citizens who are often forgotten.
3. DeWayne Eckerdt—San Francisco Firefighters in Safety Education
San Francisco Fire Department
San Francisco Firefighter DeWayne Eckerdt has been at the helm of the San Francisco Firefighters in Safety Education (SFFISE) program for 5 years. Eckerdt is responsible for more than a dozen fire department instructors and instructs the 30-minute program himself in every grade school citywide. Co-sponsored by the SFFD and the Alisa Ann Rusch Burn Foundation, this program has shared valuable safety education with more than 30,000 San Francisco grade-school students from all schools, public and private. The kids learn things like “Stay Low & Go,” not playing with matches or lighters, how to dial 9-1-1 and more. Eckerdt also has instructor kits set up at stations all over the city to make the program flow easier. This is an additional duty for Eckerdt, who still has to make sure he works his days at SFFD’s busy Engine Company 5. He's a meticulous driver/operator and a skilled EMT. He treats every victim, patient or citizen with the utmost care and concern.
4. Adopt-a-Neighborhood Program
Prince George’s County, MD, Fire/EMS Department
After a spike in fire-related fatalities in Prince George's County, the fire/EMS department instituted a new program, called Adopt-a-Neighborhood, to augment the free smoke alarm program. The department already provided smoke alarms to citizens through door-to-door campaigns and through phone and online requests. To assist in funding this free program, the department began soliciting business, houses of worship, individuals and other entities to donate funds for the purchase of new 10-year smoke alarms. The business could also choose any community or neighborhood where firefighters would go door-to-door installing new smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms. In its first year, close to $30,000 was donated to the Prince George's County Fire and EMS Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible corporation. Smoke and CO alarms were purchased and installed in neighborhoods near the business that donated. Fire safety material with the donor's logo or identification was used to let the residents know that a particular business or other entity was responsible for this donation of the smoke and/or CO alarm. Since inception, more than 300 alarms have been installed.
Community Service Honorable Mentions
Blossburg Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Association
Overall Service to Community
Lt. Daniel Colantuono, Franklin Park, IL, Fire Department
Fundraising for St. Baldrick’s Foundation
Nick Delgrasso/Pinellas Park Firefighters Local 2193, City of Pinellas Park, FL
Fundraisers for MDA
Timothy Doane, Town of Marblehead, MA, Fire Department
Firefighter Cook-Off Fundraiser for MDA; Project Lifesaver
Chief Travis Ford, Nashville, TN, Fire Department
Fire Science Program (Allied Health) at Volunteer State Community College
Lee Henderson, Stevensville, MT, Fire Department
Fire Safety Week for Schools and Fill the Boot for MDA
Captain Jeff Horn, Covington Volunteer, VA, Fire Department
Department Training
Christopher Martinez, Lompoc, CA, Fire Department
Ran Huntington Beach Marathon for Cancer Patients
Lt. Tom Mather, Damascus, OH, Fire Department
Overall Dedication to Department, Training and Career Development
Travis McBroom, Van Wert, IA, Fire Department
Pop Can Drive and Toys for Tots Fundraisers
Jamie Meece, Pulaski County, KY, Firefighter Commission
American Red Cross Programs—Smoke Alarm Installs and Disaster Team Meetings
Prince George’s County, MD, Fire/EMS Department
Safety First Day of the Month
Michael Robinson, Powell, TN, Fire Department
Created Rehab Tool
Jose R. Santini, East Pembroke, NY, Fire Department
Pet Rescue
Joe Valencia, Grants, NM, Fire & Rescue
Fundraising and Work with Knights of Columbus, Fill the Boot for MDA and Dollars Against Diabetes
