This month's issue features our annual Firehouse Magazine Heroism and Community Service Awards, presented to career and volunteer firefighters across the country. Each year, we salute firefighters whose devotion to saving the lives of others can serve as an example to us all. Among the latest honorees are a firefighter who crawled down a flame-filled hallway to pull a fallen comrade to safety, a captain whose bravery helped trapped crews evacuate safely, a lieutenant who rescued an elderly man from his burning home and an assistant chief who saved a child from a burning mobile home, to cite just a few. Thanks to our judges, Chief Robert Cobb, Chief Billy Goldfeder and Chief Mike Smith, and thanks to our sponsors, E-ONE, V.H. Blackinton & Co. Inc and The Charles Evans Foundation, whose generosity makes this program possible.
Nine children and one adult died after a house fire in the Bronx, NY. A mother and two children killed in a New Jersey apartment fire. One man dead and a dozen people injured by a fire in a Texas apartment complex; another Texas apartment fire kills a toddler. An elderly man killed and his wife critically injured by a fire in their Maryland home. One person dead and more than dozen injured by a fire at an adult care home in North Carolina. These are all recent headlines. And some politicians still say we have no fire problem as they make excuses for closing firehouses and cutting fire department budgets. In this month's Marketing ICS column, Ben May makes a convincing argument that these multiple-death fires point to a need for renewed fire prevention efforts by America's fire departments. Educating the public is going to require better marketing programs; see page 54 for tips on how to accomplish this important objective.
As you can see by the number highlighted to the left, 20 firefighters have died in the line of duty so far this year. That's painful to all of us in the fire service. Two initiatives aimed at reducing that toll are in the news - the recent Second National Line-of-Duty Death Prevention Summit (see coverage on page 22) and the upcoming third-annual International Firefighter and EMS Safety Stand Down, taking place June 17-23. This year's Stand Down theme is "Ready to Respond." We urge you to visit www.iafc.org/standdown and start making your plans for a successful stand down. It's been expanded from one day to a full week to allow maximum participation by all members.
With so many firefighters dying from heart attacks and other health-related causes, we felt it was time for a new column that focuses on fitness. Using a case-study approach, fitness expert Rich Meyer launches his Firehouse FIT Zone column on page 160 with a call for firefighters to help one another get in shape, eat better - and live longer. Also new this month is Curt Varone's Fire Law column on page 46. Curt is a deputy assistant chief with the Providence, RI, Fire Department and a practicing attorney representing firefighters and fire departments. He has selected a provocative issue for his debut column: firefighters facing homicide charges. We think you'll find his research intriguing.
A tip of the helmet to Chief Charles Werner of the Charlottesville, VA, Fire Department and a longtime Firehouse contributing editor, who was presented with the 2006 Governor's Award for Excellence in Fire Service Management for his leadership in promoting fire safety. In presenting the award, Virginia Governor Tim M. Kaine noted Chief Werner's contribution to the "greater good of other fire departments within the Commonwealth" and his work as an active member of SAFECOM and the Homeland Security Information Network Fire Service Working Group. This is the third time that Charles has received this award. We're proud that he's on our team. This issue features an interview he conducted with longtime IAFC Executive Director Garry Briese (page 128) and an article about the impact that devastating Colonial-era fires had on the Jamestown, VA, settlement, which celebrates its 400th anniversary next month.
(Harvey Eisner is recuperating from surgery. Jeff Barrington is associate publisher of Firehouse.)
