While I was working on the editorial for this month’s issue, I shifted directions when it struck me that March 2026 marks 27 years since I started working for Firehouse. I remember coming home from my job at the time to a message on my answering machine about an opening at Firehouse, and a month later, I started working at the magazine that I read as a youngster.
It’s been an incredible journey to work alongside those who selflessly give back on every page of the magazine, on Firehouse.com and at every session at a conference.
Then and now
The cover of the April 1999 issue—the first one that I worked on—is forever etched in my mind for its depiction of the dangers that firefighters face. It was from the scene of a church fire in Lake Worth, TX, at which three firefighters perished. The dramatic image showed a firefighter’s head peeking through the collapsed lightweight truss roof while smoke and fire push around him as another firefighter looks to be moving toward the firefighter in peril. A third firefighter is crawling away from the collapse.
The names of the fallen have been stored in my mind: Brian Collins, Phillip Dean and Garry Sanders. I later would learn more about the Feb. 15, 1999, Precious Faith Church fire, because the site of the tragedy is only a few miles away from where I now live.
That fire sparked many changes, from discussions on lightweight truss roofs and staffing to mutual aid and accountability. The fire service was different at that time, with accountability being little more than a laminated or plastic tag that hopefully was left on the rig that members responded on or that they took their SCBA from if they responded in their personal vehicle.
If you drive by the new church, you would have no idea that a critical moment in fire service history happened there.
“As a firefighter, you never know what the next alarm may bring,” then Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Harvey Eisner wrote in his editorial in that issue. “It’s not all about fires anymore.”
My first issue included the Firehouse Heroism Awards (now the Firehouse Valor & Community Service Awards). Among the award winners were a firefighter who held a double homicide suspect until police arrived, a firefighter who was shot while transporting two stabbing victims and a stunning rescue from a high-voltage powerline tower. The fire service continues to be in danger, whether on a fireground, responding to a call or on scene of a seemingly mundane 3 a.m. EMS run.
In an article in the April 1999 issue about fires in occupied vacant buildings, which was predominantly a concern in blighted urban areas at the time, Mike Smith wrote, “We need to ask ourselves are we really serious about doing this job safely or just using the word ‘safety’ as another ‘cutting-edge’ term?” Smith wrote about the importance of knowing building construction and fire behavior when committing members to interior operations. Today, seemingly every type of community has occupied vacant buildings.
When I started, email was just becoming a primary tool for communication, but my first few years included frequent trips to the fax machine to pick up an article that I would then type into the system or to retrieve a copy of a newspaper story that provided updates on major fire service events. Today, all of that can be done from your handheld device, which can be loaded with apps for fireground operations as well.
Our purpose and privilege
Attending countless trade shows, banquets and awards dinners, I’ve spent time with so many amazingly dedicated firefighters who made passing along the knowledge that they learned a vocation. Unfortunately, over the years, several of them died in the line of duty or passed from job-related illnesses.
When I attend the annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend, I am reminded of why we do what Firehouse always has done: provide information that’s developed for keeping firefighters on the job, honor those who go above and beyond, and remember those who lost their life serving.
