The Job's Not Done Until Our Fallen Are Honored

There was the urge to self-dispatch. Then we called FDNY to see if we could help. Thankfully once the shock of September 11th sunk in America's fire service came to its senses and recognized that the best way to lend a hand to our brothers and sisters in New York was to stay at home and raise money for the families of the fallen.

What a job we did! In an unprecedented effort coordinated at the local level, fire departments across the country fanned out with boot drives and fund raisers to help the grieving families. Major corporations and school children dug deep to help. In Vienna Virginia, Molly Webb daughter of Congressional Fire Service Institute Executive Director Bill Webb raised $700 selling lemonade in front of the family home. Barely two weeks after the attack, taking advantage of a sell out crowd at Dover Delaware International Speedway, at least three fire departments collected thousands of dollars in the backed up traffic awaiting the Nascar event. Members of the Washington DC Firefighters Association (Local 36 IAFF) collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from concerned citizens. Communities all across the country had similar stories.

As impressive as our efforts were, we haven't finished the job. What remains is the effort to properly honor the three hundred and forty three fallen at the World Trade Center and the over one hundred of our brothers and sisters who died in the line of duty elsewhere in 2001.

The folks who are tending to this Herculean task are Chief Ron Siarnicki, his staff and the Board of Directors of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The Foundation, created by an act of Congress oversees the Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the campus of the National Fire Academy at Emmitsburg Maryland. They also organize the annual service held each year to honor the memory of the fallen heroes.

I've been around long enough to remember when there wasn't any Memorial and then no Foundation. Once in the mid 1980's during a period of time that the United States Fire Administration allegedly had no funding, the major fire service groups were asked to pay to rent the folding chairs for the ceremony. That was a low point.

Thankfully, the Maryland State Firemen's Association under the leadership of the late Chief Marvin Gibbons came to the rescue and literally saved the fledgling ceremony from extinction.

Later after the Foundation was formed, an aggressive corporate sponsorship campaign was organized to provide the needed family services. That help includes, food, lodging, and transportation for the families who need assistance getting to the annual service.

Things are tight in a normal year. This year the funding needs are astronomical. The Foundation announced that the facilities at the National Fire Academy couldn't support a service that might draw as many as twenty thousand family and fire department members let alone the thousands of others who want to pay their respects. As a side note, the International Association of Fire Chiefs have called for a parade of one hundred thousand uniformed firefighters down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, the site of the service for this year only.

Here is where you come in. The Foundation needs over $3 million to finance the weekend activities and to ensure every family that wishes to attend can do so without economic burden. It is incumbent upon us, the members of the American fire service to cover these expenses. It is our duty and we must answer the call.

Incredibly the Florida State Fire Chiefs Association has already raised over $1 million. There still is a long way to go. A number of leaders in the volunteer fire service are circulating a letter pledging $50 dollars each and asking others to do the same. At the awards banquet of the International Association of Arson Investigators in Milwaukee three hundred people donated almost $5000 when the hat was passed.

You and the department you represent, your union local, your county or state volunteer association has an obligation to answer the call. We must ensure that every family knows that the nation will never forget their fallen hero. Give now or better yet organize a fund raising event. No amount is too small. A dollar from each one who calls themselves an American Firefighter will raise $1.3 million.

Make your donations payable to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Inc. Post Office Drawer 498, Emmitsburg MD 21727. Your donations are tax deductible to the extent the law allows.

Steve Austin is a long time veteran of the volunteer fire service and national fire political issues. He is a past President of the Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Association and the Director of Governmental Relations for the International Association of Arson Investigators.