Ninety-eight times, as of mid-December, we were notified by the U.S. Fire Administration of firefighter line-of-duty deaths. We are trying to reduce that number in every possible way. Something I saw a recently really hit me. I have been to many fires where firefighters were killed. The first occurred on Dec. 7, 1970, when Firefighter Timothy Grey of FDNY Ladder 34 stepped into an elevator shaft that he thought was a stairway bulkhead and fell to his death. The saddest sight I recall was when the body of the last of three firefighters was recovered from the Father's Day fire in Astoria, NY, in June 2001. Hundreds of firefighters removed their helmets in a silent tribute to their fallen comrade as he was removed from the building. A few weeks ago, the Uniformed Firefighters Association - the FDNY firefighters union - escorted more than 800 children who lost their firefighter fathers on a toy shopping spree for Christmas. I was told the number of FDNY children under 16 who qualified for the spree was around 300 a year until 9/11. Since 2001, the number of fatherless children rose by another 1,000 to around 1,300. A sobering fact.
Boys will be boys, and around the country firehouse pranks, tricks and practical jokes have become a way of life in the fire service. It didn't just start yesterday. There's the story from the horse-drawn days about a probie who was sent out to look for a dead horse and the local cop locked the probie up for a few hours. It's been around for a long time. Everything is fine until someone gets hurt or gets into trouble, and then someone - or everybody - pays the price. Recently in Los Angeles, one prank cost the fire chief his job. Maybe for some it is time to wake up and see what the real world is about. When the act comes out from behind the closed firehouse doors, everyone gets embarrassed.
Anniversaries were marked recently for several historic fires. The reason we continue to bring up these fires of the past is so we don't repeat the same mistakes in the future. This is especially true for the newer firefighters. Many instructors tell me that when they discuss these incidents, most of the students say they've never heard about these fires and the lessons learned. Six firefighters were killed in Worcester in a vacant cold storage warehouse in December 1999. The collapse on 23rd Street in Manhattan, which killed 12 FDNY firefighters, occurred in October 1966. At that fire, our Contributing Editor and retired Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn was a lieutenant in Engine 33. He reported in to Deputy Chief Thomas Reilly from the east as Engine 18 reported in from the west. Reilly directed Dunn to the exposure and sent Engine 18 into the fire building. A few minutes later, Reilly and most members of Engine 18, among others, died in a floor collapse.
President George W. Bush has asked Chief Gregory B. Cade of the Virginia Beach, VA, Fire Department to take the job as U.S. Fire Administrator. Acting Administrator Charlie Dickinson is going to retire. Let's hope this works out in favor of the fire service.
The Firehouse World Show will be presented Feb. 25 through March 1. For all you snowbirds who like the snow and ice, you probably wouldn't like the 70-degree temperatures around San Diego at that time of the year. For the rest of you, the weather forecast is hot and smoky. Special keynote presentations have been scheduled for each morning. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will continue to advise us on what to do to keep on track trying to reduce firefighter fatalities. The four FDNY firefighters who were forced to jump five floors after their exit was blocked and lived to tell about their survival while two other firefighters were killed will tell it the way it was. Chief John Hawkins from Riverside County and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) will present a report on the "Esperanza Fire" that killed five firefighters in a wildland fire in November. See www.firehouseworld.com for details.
