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5 years later: Fire service icon Hal Bruno remembered

Bruno died in 2011 from complications from a fall at age 83; he served as chairman of the NFFF for almost 10 years

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Bruno was a dedicated volunteer firefighter, advocate, commentator and leader.

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Watch the video below of Bruno moderating the vice presidential debate in 1992.

By FireRescue1 Staff

WASHINGTON — Five years ago today, the fire service lost one of its most ardent supporters when famed newsman Hal Bruno died.

Bruno, who served as an active member of the fire service community for more than 60 years, died in 2011 at age 83. He died at the Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., from complications from a fall.

Bruno was a dedicated volunteer firefighter, advocate, commentator and leader. He served as a chairman of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation for almost 10 years and began serving as a volunteer firefighter in the 1940s.

During his time with the NFFF, he helped expand services and resources for survivors and supported initiates to help reduce LODDs. The Hal Bruno Comfort Zone Camp, named in his honor, provides a weekend bereavement camp for children ages 7-17 of fallen firefighters who have been honored in Emmitsburg, Md.

Bruno was a Chicago native with a 60-year career in journalism. He retired in 1999 from ABC News to take the position at the NFFF. He hosted a weekly radio show, “Hal Bruno’s Washington,” and covered every national election since 1960.

Bruno may be best known for moderating one of the more interesting vice presidential debates between Al Gore, Dan Quayle and James Stockdale in 1992.

He was also one of the first journalists on the scene of the Our Lady of the Angels elementary school fire in Chicago on Dec. 1, 1958, which killed 92 students and three nuns. And he was among the first firefighters to respond to the Pentagon when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It was not unusual for him to work late into the night in journalism,” his son Harold told the Washington Post in 2011, “then he would come home and get a call at 10 or 10:30 and be out fighting a fire until 2:30 a.m.”

“Hal was a dedicated fire service professional who committed his life to the service of others. As a volunteer firefighter, fire buff, journalist, father, husband and leader within the fire service community, he always found the time to support what was needed to be done to make the world a better place,” said Ron Siarnicki, NFFF’s executive director and an editorial advisory board member for FireRescue1 and Fire Chief. “He believed in doing the right thing and stood by those decisions that were best for the American fire service. He was a great man who we all miss, but his legacy will live on forever.”

Among the numerous awards Bruno received for his dedication to the fire service were the National Fire & Emergency Services Hall of Legends, Legacies and Leaders Award and the 2008 CFSI/Motorola Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award.

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