EMMITSBURG, Md. — The Fallen Firefighters Foundation is preparing to launch a 20 city Whistle-Stop Tour to promote Firefighter Safety. Over 100 firefighter deaths occur each year, most of which are preventable. The leading causes of line-of-duty deaths are lack of firefighter fitness, the increased need for additional training and vehicle accidents. Cathy Hedrick’s son, Kenny, was killed when responding to a fire…was it preventable?
Kenny was killed on January 12, 1992 while responding to a local fire. They were the first ones on the scene; expectations were high as there were people still in the burning house. With adrenaline pumping Kenny went into the burning house, alone. Going into a burning house alone is not what he was trained to do, but lives were at jeopardy. This was the first of several terrible “accidents”. He slipped down the basement stairs, there was a flashover. He was unable to find his way back to those stairs, so he retreated into a back room. As he felt his face mask soften, the face mask plastic turned “milky” he reached up to either pull the mask off or to move it … when his thumb punctured a hole in the melting plastic, this caused a rapid loss of his remaining air. There was a rush of toxic gases and heat coming through the opening. This deadly mix caused him to suffocate.
Kenny would be found by his best friends in the fetal position in the back room, dead. Kenny had on all his protective turn out gear. All his equipment did what it was designed to do…was it enough? Cathy relives this story vividly and asks this question frequently.
On behalf of all of the fallen firefighters, the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation is launching an unprecedented tour, with high hopes of reducing the number of line-of-duty deaths by 50% within 5 years. This tour aims to educate the public, promote firefighter safety, in addition to implementing a seatbelt pledge, educating firefighters on the 16 Life Saving Initiatives and raising public awareness.
This tour will start in San Francisco on April 5th, 2007 and continue to March 12th with an end in Boston. The programs offered along the route will center on the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, as well as other Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives preprograms, including the nationally-recognized curriculum, Courage To Be Safe… So Everyone Goes Home™.
We encourage all firefighters to attend in the city near them, to show their solidarity and to make a pledge to be safe…so that Everyone Goes Home.
The following are the tour dates and locations:
5-Apr San Francisco
7-Apr Sacramento
9-Apr LA
10-Apr Phoenix
12-Apr Dallas
13-Apr St Louis
14-Apr Chicago
16-Apr Nashville
18-19 Apr Indianapolis
21-Apr Atlanta
23-Apr Miami
24-Apr Tampa
26-Apr Charlotte NC
28-Apr Washington, DC Area
1-May Philadelphia
2-May New York
6-May New York
9-May Hartford
10-May Providence
12-May Boston
For more information on the National Fallen Firefighter’s Foundation please visit www.firehero.org; please visit www.everyonegoeshome.com for more information on the Everyone Goes Home Program. For more survivor stories please contact khibbs@andersonmanning.net.