EMMITSBURG, Md. — Chief Ron Siarnicki, Executive Director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, announced that the America’s Fire Heroes Whistlestop Tour was an overwhelming success. The cross country tour concluded on Saturday, May 12, with an event in Framingham, Massachusetts.
The purpose of the tour was to raise awareness of the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. The initiatives, developed by the Fire Service Leadership in 2004, are the “blue print” for reducing line-of-duty injures and deaths.
The tour gained national media coverage as it crossed the country sending the message “Everyone Goes Home.” The tour began in San Francisco on April 5 and made 20 official stops in major cities across the country. The tour bus, wrapped with graphic images of firefighters and the names of 3,147 firefighters who died in the line of duty (shown here), was designed to honor those who paid the ultimate price and to deliver the message of the Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Program, “Everyone Goes Home.”
The tour events, attended by thousands of firefighters and the general public, included fire department honor guards, pipe and drum bands, and speeches by the fire service and local dignitaries. The highlight of each stop was the presentation made by the loved ones left behind as a result of firefighter line-of-duty deaths.
“Stop after stop, firefighters remarked that these moving presentations inspired them to think more about their how they do their jobs,” noted Chief Siarnicki. “Hearing how the death of a firefighter affected the family gave meaning to the loss that no one in the fire service wants their family to endure.”
Hal Bruno, Chairman, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, said “This tour was a great success and captured the essence of what the Foundation stands for, honoring those who have died in the line of duty and learning from the lessons they left behind.”
In conjunction with the tour, the “Courage to Be Safe ... So Everyone Goes Home” training class was held at each stop. This provocative and moving classroom presentation is designed to change the culture of accepting the loss of firefighters as a normal occurrence. More than three hundred firefighters completed this training program during the course of the tour.
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation strongly supports enhanced training, better equipment, and other measures to increase firefighter health and safety. These efforts can make a significant difference in reducing the number of firefighter line-of-duty deaths each year.
An archive of photos of the tour can be found at www.everyonegoeshome.com/whistlestop. This website had more than two million hits during the period of the tour.
This tour was made possible through a grant by the Dunkin’ Brands Community Foundation and the Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Program, funded by grants from the Department of Homeland Security and the generosity of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company.