Last weekend, I delivered a presentation on fire service trends at the Buffalo Trace Regional Fire Academy in Maysville, Ky. More than 400 firefighters — primarily volunteers with ages ranging from 18 to 70 — were signed up for the three-day academy.

Because Kentucky firefighters are required to meet certain hours for state certifications, State Fire Commissioner Ron Davis said the state provides the regional training at no charge. One of the most popular classes at the academy was a two-day basic firefighting course for new firefighters and seasoned firefighters who want to brush up on their skills. Also among the 16 classes being offered were highway crash–site management, occupant protection and an eight-hour firefighter survival course.

The evening before my presentation, I had the opportunity to meet several firefighters at a nearby pub. They shared with me a number of their concerns as volunteer firefighters who are trying to balance work and family, and over the need for more training in the current economy. One training officer explained that the lack of jobs has sent volunteers out of the region, some driving 50 to 60 miles each way to work. “There’s no time to train and even less time to respond to calls,” he said.

Recruiting and retaining members and balancing budgets are universal problems, and managing them can be very stressful. In fact, firefighter stress was one of the trends I identified in my presentation.

Recently I heard a fire chief say that volunteer firefighters are most susceptible to emotional stress because “when they respond to a call, they know the people they are working on in their town.” When I shared that comment with the volunteers, they nodded in agreement.

After my presentaion, a young firefighter came up to me and told me he once had to help cut his brother and a friend out of a car after a bad accident. The brother survived, but the friend was killed. I told him that he had a long career ahead of him and I hoped he would learn how to deal with the stress he would encounter.

Of course, support of family and friends goes a long way to relieving some of that stress. To that end, FIRE CHIEF once again will be gathering names and contact information of firefighters and emergency personnel who either are serving our country overseas or are veterans recovering back home.

If you know firefighter, EMT, paramedic or other first responder who would appreciate receiving a holiday card or package from fire departments or fire families here in the U.S., send his or her contact information to me, and we will post it on our Web site.

It’s time to remember those who are away from home for the holidays and let them know we care.

By Jesse Herman

Firefighters are exposed to many risks on a daily basis, but one that can go unnoticed is the danger of asbestos exposure, a mineral fiber that used in construction applications throughout the 20th century. The life of a firefighter brings many potential threats that can be easy or hard to see. The profession itself takes a great deal of courage. One of the hidden threats that are not so glamorous is asbestos exposure.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued the Asbestos Ban & Phase Out in 1989. This ruling was overturned in the highly contested court decision that left many asbestos-containing products in the public realm. This led to millions of workers and civilians being wrongfully exposed to the substance.

The threat of asbestos for firefighters is subtle, and there are seldom warning signs to allow a firefighter to know whether they are or have been exposed to asbestos. Firefighters who have been exposed to asbestos usually have been in situations where they had reasons to believe they are safe.

The mineral was mixed into paint, combined with cellulose to make fiberboard and wallboard, mixed with cement to make siding shingles and formed into felt for use as roof felting and backings on vinyl flooring. Asbestos was even used in joint compound, which was used in dozens of different kinds of applications.

The mere presence of asbestos in a home or a building is not hazardous. If a firefighter located any asbestos, the best thing to do is leave it un-disturbed, as this will not allow its fibers to become airborne.

Any home or building built before 1980 has a good chance of still containing asbestos. Even firehouses should be inspected for asbestos as many of them were constructed prior to any asbestos ban.

In the case of a fire, asbestos fibers get released and when breathed in, can scar the lungs. While asbestos has been banned for most of its uses since the early 1980s, there is still a probability that asbestos fibers can be released in the air. This can only happen when asbestos-laden materials are deteriorated or broken down.

The inhalation of asbestos fibers can lead to the development of a rare, but severe form of asbestos lung cancer known as mesothelioma. This illness has and continues to affect firefighters who were unknowingly exposed while on duty.

If you are a firefighter and believe you have experienced asbestos exposure, it is important to receive regular screenings by physicians to identify a possible disease. It should be known asbestos exposure does not always lead to a disease, but because the latency periods associated with asbestos illnesses can last 20 to 50 years, a regular check up is advisable.

Jesse Herman is with the Mesothelioma Cancer Center.

Verna Wilson intently rubbed a piece of paper over a large brass plaque, while Elizabeth Desideri held the paper in place.

Wilson’s son, 30-year-old Shawn Patrick Blazer, was one of eight Forest Service contractors killed in a helicopter crash on Aug. 5, 2008. His name was among those listed on the 2008 fallen firefighters’ plaque unveiled at the NFFF’s memorial weekend.

I attended my first memorial weekend this year. I had shied away from going in previous years because I cry easily and I feared the sadness — when I hear the Last Alarm or bagpipers playing Amazing Grace, I crumble. But when I finally went, it wasn’t the sound of bells or the bagpipes that touched me — it was the overwhelming compassion from volunteers who want to make a difference to the families who had just lost loved ones.

Anita Reynolds, who works for the Fairfax County (Va.) Fire Department, has volunteered for four years. Her tasks ranged from spraying for the annoying bees to passing out tissue packets to drying the chairs before the early morning ceremony. “We try and make [the families’] weekend as smooth and problem-free as possible,” Reynolds said.

Chief Bob Dipoli first volunteered in 1990, serving as an escort or caretaker for a family. “I was coming for the Executive Fire Officer program, and they were looking for uniformed escorts to assist a family from upstate New York,” Dipoli said. He became the escort coordinator and eventually became one of the presenters of the American flag, medal and a red rose, given to each new family during the ceremony.

At the ceremony, 457 motorcycles led by a police escort rode up from Fredericks, Md., under a large American flag suspended from two aerial ladders to place a wreath at the memorial.

I also met Frank and Stephanie Thompson, whose son Brandon Thompson was killed in the Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire. “Last year was a blur for me,” Frank Thompson said. “I bought my tickets several months ago and told [the NFFF] I was coming back.”

Stephanie Thompson said that being able to talk to other survivors made a big difference in her ability to get through the grief.

“Two of our sons are police officers and we worried about their safety,” she said. “Being a firefighter, we thought Brandon would be fine.”

During the candlelight program, Dennis Compton addressed the 2,000-person gathering. “We will help in any way to help you to re-build your lives,” he said. “We are here to help and support you — it’s that simple.”

In the benediction of the candlelight service, Chaplain Ted Wilson, Oklahoma City Fire Department offered, “The amount of pain corresponds with the love that we have.”

And there was no shortage of love at the memorial. The survivors of fallen firefighters returned to share, this year’s new families came for healing and firefighters came for the remembrance.

“You are now part of our fire-service family and we are here to support you,” said Helen Worthen, whose son Eric Reiner died in 1998. “The light is a symbol of light and hope and we share that with you.”

I found inspiration in the memorial weekend’s spirit of unity. But I still struggle to understand preventable line-of-duty deaths. I propose that that the fire chief of each line of duty death be present at the Memorial weekend and escort to the family of the fallen firefighter. Watch the family members sign the remembrance banner, do a rubbing of the brass plaque or brick with their loved one’s name and escort them to receive the tri-fold American flag, the medal and the long stem rose.

“We can sleep because they do not,” Rep. Steny Hoyer said. “We don’t hope they are; we know they are.”

Is firefighter safety important? Ask Verna Wilson, Frank and Stephanie Thompson, and Helen Worthen. Buckle up, slow down and leave call response to the physically fit.

By Daniel B.C. Gardiner



With the downturn of the economy, cities and towns are being forced to reduce staffing on arguably already-understaffed fire companies. While the number of fires has fallen nationwide, fire department activity has increased. And facing a hostile fire with inadequate resources is a recipe for disaster — both for the occupants in danger and for the responding firefighters tasked with mitigation. As politicians struggle to balance their budgets, career fire departments may no longer be able to provide a level of safety that the public expects.

It is time to act! The public must be told that fire departments may not be able to save their lives and their property in the event of a fire. It is as simple as that. The public deserves to know, and rank-and-file firefighters should be shouting from the rooftops.

Along with this message, fire department must emphasize that without smoke alarms in their homes, homeowners’ chances of surviving a hostile fire are minimal. Smoke alarms provide the earliest warning of danger, allowing the occupants a greater chance of escaping the life danger. These same homeowners must be told that without a monitored fire alarm system, an unoccupied house could burn down to the foundations before the fire department is notified. And finally, homeowners should be told the benefits of an automatic fire sprinkler systems, which provide protection regardless of the economic climate.

Business owners deserve to be notified of the potential loss of livelihood if they don’t take protective measures. A monitored fire alarm system is the minimum they should have to protect their investment, place of business, and future earnings. Here, too, is the necessity of sounding the alarm about the need for automatic fire sprinklers to protect their building 24/7 without concern for the economic climate.

Perfect examples occurred in Fairfield, Conn., earlier this summer. First, local fish market was destroyed, and the employees were subsequently moved to the unemployment ranks. The fire was discovered by a police officer driving by during the very early morning hours. The police officer noticed flames coming out of the roof. The business had no fire sprinklers and no monitored fire alarm.

Then, less then two weeks later, a passerby alerted a sleeping family that their home was on fire. Again, the passerby noticed flames and smoke coming from the building. While Fairfield has a smoke-alarm ordinance for all residences, this house had none. Without the passerby, this family could have paid with their lives. And in the second week of August, two occupants died in a Stratford, Conn., home, where the upstairs smoke alarm had been disabled.

In the cited cases, the fire department was not given the opportunity to handle these fires before they became major destructive events, not because there was insufficient staffing but because there was no early warning, notification, or automatic suppression (fire sprinklers).

Video depicting the dangers of firefighting do nothing inform and educate the citizens on how to protect themselves. Information on automatic detection and protection does.

The late Dr. Anne Wright Phillips, a member of the original National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, wrote in her minority report, “Tremendous credit should be given to the fire service for its ready acceptance of the concept that firemen should serve primarily as fire preventers, rather than firefighters. They will need help in changing to this new position.”

One can argue whether this approach to the fire problem ever occurred. It is obvious that many firefighters haven’t adjusted to their role as fire preventers. Many new firefighters have been indoctrinated with past ideologies and spend their time just being firefighters.

It is time to sound the alarm. The public deserves to know that they must take steps to help themselves, because the fire department may not be able to get there in time with the necessary resources to fight their fire. Citizens must help themselves; the fire department is the last line of defense, not the first, and it is the vast number of rank-and-file firefighters are the most equipped to present this message.

Daniel B.C. Gardiner is the retired fire chief of the Fairfield (Conn.) Department of Fire-Rescue Services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in fire-science technology and master’s degrees in public administration and fire science. Gardiner speaks nationally on firefighter safety, fire department operations, fire-service finance, training, and futuristic fire suppression and fire protection issues. He is a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committees on Recommended Practices in Emergency Service Organization Risk Management (NFPA 1250), and Developing Fire Protection Services for the Public (NFPA 1201).

Earlier this week, the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ EMS Section sent a letter of protest against the new NBC television show, Trauma.

In the letter to the chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, EMS Section Chairman Gary Ludwig expressed “deep and sincere displeasure” with the show, particularly with scenes depicting paramedics having sex in ambulances, making sexist remarks against women and performing medical procedures outside the standard of care. Ludwig requested NBC cancel or modify the series “accurately portray the sacrifices of those who perform emergency medical services to comfort and treat those who have suffered a serious trauma or illness.”

When I spoke with Ludwig, who also serves as deputy fire chief in Memphis, Tenn., he called the program “totally irritating.”

“It does an injustice to our profession, and the legal concerns impact the viewers,” Ludwig said, referring to a scene where a paramedic misuses drugs for a patient by one actor. Ludwig said he turned the program off after 20 minutes.

Are Ludwig’s concerns justified? How much does television influence the public’s perception of a profession?

Dragnet showed viewers a respectful police force in the fifties, while Hill Street Blues began to show a grittier side in the eighties. Medical professionals have been popular on television since the beginning, from the first soap operas to Marcus Welby, M.D., to shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs today.

Are firefighters and EMS personnel above being portrayed as human and vulnerable on television? Is that portrayal necessarily a bad thing?

“There are so many of us in our profession who went into this profession because of Johnny and Roy from Emergency!” Ludwig admitted.

Former JEMS publisher Jim Paige was an advisor to Emergency! and didn’t hesitate to put his foot down if something was not accurate.

“Jim didn’t want firefighters or paramedics being portrayed negatively,” Ludwig said. To this day, Johnny and Roy still come up at national conferences.

But it seems Emergency! was a far cry from Trauma or its sensational firefighting counterpart, Rescue Me.

As luck would have it, the show’s premiere coincides the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend and the start of Fire Prevention Week across the United States and in Canada. The fire service has worked hard over the past 30-plus years to raise the level of professionalism with education, certification and diversity. Likewise, EMS has raised to unimaginable levels with certified paramedics and advanced ALS. Still the emergency services still wrestle with issues of sexual harassment, drug abuse and politics.

Maybe we aren’t ready for programs like Trauma and Rescue Me to show the vulnerabilities of human beings working in the emergency services because those vulnerabilities touch raw nerves. But maybe that’s what television producers find so appealing about firefighters, paramedics and EMTs — they are sacred!

The economy is tight, but fire departments still are investing in safety, as could be seen by the attendance of more than 180 safety officers and instructors at the 20th Annual Fire Department Safety Officers Association Safety Forum in Orlando.

The week began with two-day academies for incident-safety officers and health-and-safety officers, followed by certification tests for the 91 participants.

Chief Ron Siarnicki (Ret.), executive director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, gave a four-hour pre-conference workshop on LACK: Leadership Accountability Culture Knowledge, part of the NFFF’s Courage to be Safe series.

“Are you on the path to a line-of-duty death or injury?” Siarnicki asked. “Every 78 hours, a firefighter dies in the line of duty.”

The NFFF’s intent is to create programs that offer specific steps to raise awareness of safety in fire and emergency departments and train the trainers to take the program back to their local departments.

When Siarnicki asked the safety officers about continuing safety problems they dealt with, responses included: unbuckled seatbelts, non-use of SCBAs during overhaul, freelancing on the fireground, motivation to change and not buckling helmet straps.

“We must all accept responsibility for our actions and consequences starting from the top down and starting from the bottom up,” Siarnicki said. “Train, learn, teach, every day.”

In another Courage to be Safe workshop, Billy Hayes, director of communications for the District of Columbia Fire/EMS, and Chief Ron Dennis (Ret.), executive director of the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association, updated attendees on progress made since the implementation of the 16 Life-Safety Initiatives five years ago.

“Last year there were 23 LODDs from motor vehicles,” Dennis said. “It’s almost October and as of right now, there have been nine LODDs from motor vehicles, and three were unbelted. The number is down and we believe there is hope that we are changing.”

They also offered suggestions on how to implement the initiatives in individual departments.

“Over time, minor safety issues escalate to moderately significant safety violations.” Hayes said. “Watch how fire engines respond out the door on a daily basis to automatic fire alarms because that will tell you how they respond. We don’t invent new ways to kill firefighters we keep doing the same thing.”

Courage to be Safe other NFFF programs are available at no cost to departments. Information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

The conference’s keynote speaker, D.C. Fire/EMS Chief Dennis Rubin, features his “Lemons to Lemonade” program. After a series of disastrous fires in historic buildings, D.C. Fire was able to turn the incident into a teaching moment.

After receiving the wrong address for a house fire, which resulted in the death of a young girl, the department launched. Smoke Alarm Verification & Utilization. The program not only provides smoke detectors, but it puts firefighters out into the community to educate residents about the importance of working smoke detectors.

Rubin ended his program with “Rube’s Rules.” Among them is visibility in the department and in the community. “I do two community events a week, one during the day and one evening,” he said.

I particularly liked Rube’s Rule, “Someone is always watching you,” which can be comforting or cautionary.

Rural fire departments struggle to provide services. They depend on free manpower, the goodwill of community fundraising and the empathy of a city council that believes the fire service should be properly funded. Without such support, volunteer fire departments have to depend on their own sweat equity to make the department run, including tweaking equipment to make it last one more year or spending mornings flipping pancakes for a fundraiser in hopes of purchasing new bunker gear.

It’s not fair. And frankly, I don’t understand it. How do people work full-time jobs, take care of family responsibilities, and still find time to not only train for the fire service and fight fires, but also to donate to fundraising administrative tasks like stuffing envelopes for a letter-writing campaign?

I spoke recently about this with Jim Bollinger, 30-year chief of the Marble Hill Fire Department in southeast Missouri. The department is one of the lucky ones; it has an annual budget of $100,000 to support community services and to provide gear and training to the 22 volunteers on the team.

The fire department also is part of an automatic mutual-aid system with surrounding towns and is the only department that runs extrication rescues in the rural area.

“That’s because some of the surrounding fire departments don’t even get a budget from their city,” Bollinger said. “It’s like in some of these areas the fire departments are treated like the bastard child and that’s not right.”

Bollinger admits he doesn’t have an answer, only worries on how departments will stay operational while modernizing to meet current safety standards. He points to the NFPA standards for SCBA devices that pushed the price up significantly. Marble Hill is ready for an upgrade, but Bollinger is shocked by the sticker price.

“We are ready for an upgrade, and when we bought the units six years ago they cost around $1,600,” he said. “Now, I hear they may be around $7,000. It is virtually impossible at my department’s size to afford the units… and some other departments depended on fundraisers. What are they going to do?”

Bollinger believes in safety standards and has no complaint there. He just can’t see in today’s economic climate that volunteer departments are going to be able to comply — although he says they must to protect the lives of firefighters. However, the departments just don’t have the funding support from cities and counties — and can’t operate if they don’t meet the standards, he said.

“The fire service really needs support from local government,” he said. “Remember, a fire doesn’t know the difference between a volunteer and career firefighter.”

It’s not like Bollinger is saying anything new. So what’s next? Will more governments add volunteer departments into their fiscal budgets or will services be slashed across the country? I am unsure as of now, but would hate to see volunteer fire departments across the nation slowly shut down, leaving pockets of our rural communities vulnerable to fires.

A firefighter dies in the line of duty every three days, and with each LODD, another family begins the spiraling stages of grief.

The firefighter’s chief and colleagues hover over the family and show support through the funeral, but for them, life eventually slips back into a routine. Where can the widow or widower, parent and children find help?

All chiefs know about the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s annual memorial weekend in October, but if you’re fortunate enough never to have lost a firefighter in your department, you may not know all that the NFFF really does.

The NFFF pays the transportation and housing for fallen firefighters’ families for the memorial weekend in Emmittsburg, Md. There, the families can meet other survivors of fallen firefighters — some attending for the first time, others returning help the first timers.

The foundation offers counseling sessions, lunch, small group sessions and dinner on the memorial Saturday, followed by candlelight ceremony in the basilica. The weekend wraps up on Sunday with a National Memorial Service at the memorial site on the campus.

The weekend is a time to celebrate the lives of the fallen firefighters and to share with and help those who are left behind. However, the memorial weekend is just the tip of what the NFFF does for firefighters and their families.

The foundation provides year-round programs for the survivors of all fire service personnel who gave their lives in service to their communities. It offers scholarships to help children, stepchildren, spouses and life-partners with post-secondary and vocational studies. Last year, each person who applied received a $2,000 scholarship. Peer support programs match survivors with others who have lost a firefighter and even send out personal remembrance cards on the anniversary of the loss.

The NFFF also offers training through “Taking Care of Our Own” workshops, which teach fire department personnel how to preplan and provide insight and awareness of the needs for family and co-workers should the department experience a line-of-duty death. The Local Assistance State Teams (LAST) aid the family and department after a LODD and help with filing for federal, state and local benefits. Also offered is “Chief to Chief,” a networking program that matches chiefs who have similar experiences.

The NFFF also take proactive steps with the “Everyone Goes Home” program, which provides awareness of the 16 Firefighter Life-Safety Initiatives to reduce firefighter fatalities.

What’s truly amazing about the NFFF is that it doesn’t publicize everything it does for firefighters and their families. The congressionally mandated 501-c-3 organization gets most of its money through grants, donations, golf outings and sweepstakes.

“This year is the first time since World War II that charitable giving has not gone up,” said the woman sitting next to me at the meeting of the NFFF’s corporate advisory board this week. “Everyone is tightening their belts.”

But firefighters continue to die and more families need assistance. Don’t stop giving to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. A family you know might need them some day.

Does your fire department have a safety program? By this, I mean do you have a designated safety officer program with certified safety officers and standard operating procedures and guidelines?

Bob Finley, certification coordinator for the Fire Department Safety Officers Association, has seen many metropolitan fire departments at conferences preach about safety programs they don’t actually have.

“Everyone always wants to look at the big fire departments for an example of a good safety officer program, but bigger is not always better or smarter,” Finley said. “Neither Chicago, Philadelphia nor St. Louis have a safety program. But I see so many smaller fire departments that have some excellent safety programs.”

I asked Finley for some examples of safety officer programs, and he immediately thought of four fire departments: Shreveport (La.) Fire Department; Cobb County (Ga.) Fire & EMS; Sedgwick County (Kan.) Fire District #1; and Northport Fire Department, Long Island, N.Y.

“The Northport Fire Department is doing some pretty neat mutual-aid safety-officer work because all of the departments are volunteer and many of their people work in New York City,” Finley said.

Finley knows what he’s talking about. He started his fire-service career in 1970, working his way through the ranks in volunteer, combination and career departments. He was an associate instructor at the University of Missouri Fire & Rescue Training Institute and later became chief operating officer of the university’s emergency service system and employee and student fire-safety programs. Finley’s experience with Missouri’s state certification and the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress were invaluable to the FDSOA as it developed its incident safety officer and the health and safety officer certification programs.

“Bob Finley was the only one that I thought of who could handle the certification program for FDSOA,” said Mary McCormack, the association’s executive director.

One department that has worked toward that certification is Sedgwick County Fire District #1, outside Wichita, Kan. When the department began the process four years ago, Chief Gary Curmode and Div. Chief Terry Mauldin became certified incident safety officers. Next, Sedgwick’s battalion chiefs and company officers became ISO certified. Now the department has 60 certified incident safety officers and several members also have the administrative-level health and safety officer certifications.

“Now, ISO certification is required for Sedgwick firefighters to be promoted to a company officer,” Finley said. “What’s really unusual is that the firefighters pay for their ISO certification exams themselves.”

And now taking the exam for ISO certification has become easier. Fire science students at Columbia Southern University, one of the original online universities, will be able to take the exam online.

“When people ask me if we have an online course, I can now refer them to Columbia Southern University,” Finley said.

Students also can take the exam at the FDSOA’s Annual Safety Forum, Sept. 21–25 in Orlando, Fla. The forum will feature a two-day academy, 16-hour incident safety officer and health and safety officer courses, and the certification exams.

I never thought much about large furniture stores with their overstocked shelves, overflowing bins and maze-like furniture displays. I didn’t, that is, until two years ago, when nine Charleston, S.C. firefighters died in such a store. Now every time I walk into a large store, I stop to figure out where the exits are located — I want to know how to get out.

Hundreds upon hundreds of firefighters have died needlessly over the years, but none more so than the Charleston Nine. Their deaths have brought about much-needed changes, highlighted by the report compiled by the Charleston Post-Incident Assessment and Review Team.

Charleston has worked hard to implement the more than 200 task-force recommendations. The city hired a new fire chief, Thomas Carr, late last year. This week, John Tippett joined the department as deputy chief of operations. He is the last commissioned officer to be brought onto the department.

“Many positive things in the works right now,” he said.

Among those positive things is increased staffing. The department’s current 29-member recruit class will allow for four-person staffing on every apparatus. With SAFER grant funds, another 12-member recruit class will graduate in October and will become battalion chief aides.

“The department is also close to getting the SOPs completed and has been working with surrounding departments to have a regional response SOP,” Tippett added. “The departments have readily supported it, too.”

Tippett told me that as part of the remembrance of the two-year anniversary of the tragedy, the fire department has asked the city’s building department to pull listings of all the properties that have a profile similar to the Sofa Super Store. Fire crews have been visiting these locations and updating or creating preplans. The firefighters are familiarizing themselves with the buildings and meeting with storeowners about fire safety.

In addition to the prevention efforts, Tippet said the city also will hold a memorial service at the site of the fire on June 18. The city purchased the land and plans to use it for a memorial and possibly a new fire department headquarters. A period of time has been set aside for the Charleston Fire Department members to come and pay their respects. The site then will be open for the public to pay their respects.

“It’s a vacant lot now, but there is a small memorial with a post and American flag where the bodies were located,” Tippett said.

The fire service vowed to never forget the Charleston Nine: Capt. Michael Benke, Capt. Billy Hutchinson, Capt. Louis Mulkey, Engineer Brad Baity, Engineer Mark Kelsey, Asst. Engineer Michael French, Firefighter Melvin Champaign, Firefighter Earl Drayton and Firefighter Brandon Thompson.

Charleston’s progress shows they haven’t forgotten either.