While I was recently in Washington, DC, attending the Congressional Fire Services Institute's 20th annual dinner, I met an old friend. Wayne Powell, who retired from the National Fire Academy and now works for Marriott Hotels & Resorts conducting fire protection inspections worldwide, told me a story. Last July, as Wayne was leaving for a trip to Vietnam to visit a new property, he packed the latest copy of Firehouse® Magazine with him. He visited a hotel that was under renovation, talked with the building personnel and asked whether they had ever interacted with the local fire service. They had not, so Wayne took the group to visit the nearby fire station. Through an interpreter, they discussed the fire service. Wayne gave a copy of his July 2007 issue of Firehouse®, the cover of which featured the nine firefighters who were killed in Charleston, SC, at a sofa store fire a few weeks earlier. Amazingly, the Vietnamese firefighters had heard of the incident three-quarters of the way around the world. As Wayne described the incident, the senior fire official wept openly on hearing the story and being presented with the copy of the magazine. An example of firefighters working under different conditions, performing the same job in another country, just speaking another language.
The highlight of the CFSI dinner was the honor bestowed on our own Hal Bruno, a contributing editor since our earliest days, as this year's recipient of the CFSI/Motorola Fire Service Leadership Award. Since Hal began writing the Fire Politics column for us in 1976, he has championed the causes of general fire safety, firefighter safety, and funding for the National Fire Academy, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and all related causes. His constant close watch on the powers that be in Washington has kept politicians and fire service leaders on board and on the right track.
It hasn't always been easy for Hal. There have been many battles over the years, some won and some lost. Hal's ever-watchful eye has made the nation more fire safe and the fire service more politically savvy and aware of what goes on behind closed doors in Washington and state capitals. Presidents, vice presidents, speakers of the House, senators and members of Congress have tipped their hat to Hal at the CFSI dinners. He has known many of the political giants for over 40 years. As ABC News political director, it was said that Hal knew the politicians' office numbers, their home numbers and where they could be reached. His lifetime achievements are unsurpassed. We in the U.S. fire service should be thankful that we have Hal in our corner. Recently, his reporting on the Justice Department and its inability to provide proper benefits to the survivors of firefighters who died in the line of duty helped to spur changes so that those dependents are finally receiving what Congress and the President said they should. Just one of the many good deeds done by a man who has lived and loved the fire service.
One of my favorite stories about Hal concerns the time when he lived in Chicago and worked for a local newspaper. He responded with his fire company to the Our Lady of the Angels School fire in 1958. After fighting the fire, he learned that many children and nuns had been killed. Hal told his officer that he had to take off his fire helmet and put on his newspaper hat, then telephoned the newspaper and told them to "stop the presses." The editor asked Hal to confirm the number of deaths. He went back and did that. The fire killed 92 children and three nuns. That started Hal's 50-year crusade for school fire safety. The rest is history.
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