Editorial: July 2005

We mourn the passing of retired FDNY Lieutenant and Woodmere, NY, Firefighter Peter B. Lund. Pete, 54, died in the line of duty of an apparent heart attack at the scene of a house fire in Woodmere on June 13. Pete retired from the FDNY two years ago after serving 30 years. He was a former chief in Woodmere, where he lived and volunteered for 35 years. Pete was always where the action was. He worked as a firefighter in a very busy truck company in Brooklyn, then in Rescue 2 in Brooklyn and Rescue 4 in Queens. Lund served as a lieutenant in Rescue 3 in the Bronx for 10 years before moving to Rescue 2 in Brooklyn for 10 years until his retirement. He was cited 14 times for bravery during his career.

I interviewed Pete after the rescue operations were concluded at the World Trade Center following 9/11. Pete, who many firefighters said was as tough as they come, told me that the acts of heroism he saw during the search and recovery at the World Trade Center that he saw far surpassed anything that he could have imagined. He said that it took a lot of courage for people to get into the areas they were operating in because of the tremendously dangerous conditions. Pete wrote articles for Firehouse® and was a speaker at Firehouse Expo in Baltimore. His name is still listed as a contributing editor in our masthead at right.

I had the honor and privilege of knowing Pete for a long time. He was known for his expertise in rescue and collapse training and other types of specialized rescue incident training. Pete presented an auto extrication class for my fire department during my tenure as fire chief and we thanked him by inviting him to our 100th anniversary dinner in 1994. We mourn this great loss. Pete will be missed.

Our June 2005 issue was already at the printer when we learned about the National Firefighter Stand Down that was scheduled for June 21. Departments were asked to suspend all non-emergency activity and focus on firefighter safety. Even if you have spent a lot of time discussing, reviewing and debating all of the related topics, you can still review some of these specific topics. Rome wasn’t built in a day and we aren’t going to fix this firefighter death trend overnight. It will take constant review and reminders.

It is extremely tough to continue to write about firefighter safety each month, but it seems to be the most important topic. I recently watched a new program on the Discovery Channel focusing on the Boston Fire Department. One of the firefighters was being interviewed, and I saw his name: Minehan. I said to my fellow firefighters, I bet that it was his father, Lieutenant Stephan F. Minehan, who was killed in the line of duty searching for two trapped firefighters. We presented a two-page photo spread of the fire, which occurred on June 24, 1994. The program also showed Boston firefighters visiting the Vendome Memorial. Jeff Barrington and I traveled to the 1997 dedication of the monument to nine Boston firefighters who died 25 years earlier in a hotel collapse during overhaul.

I received three phone calls after midnight alerting me to the fact that Pete Lund was first removed in cardiac arrest and then had passed away. I review the names and departments of the firefighters who are killed in the line of duty. When you know the individual it makes it all very personal. That’s why we discuss firefighter safety as often as we do. Chief Billy Goldfeder suggests, at the minimum, reviewing these key points: The Fire Department Seatbelt Policy, strictly enforced. The Fire Department Driving and Backing Policy. No firefighters or police struck on the highway. And let’s watch what we eat and how we exercise.

In this issue, to coincide with this month’s Firehouse Expo, we present stories about the Tru-Fit Clothing Company fire in Baltimore that occurred on Feb. 16, 1955. Six firefighters died in the line of duty during firefighting operations. See page 142 for the stories.