Quiet Warrior
Celebrating the everyday fire hero, the Quiet Warrior program is a collaboration between FireRescue1 and 5.11 Tactical that highlights the professionalism, compassion, heroism and humility that drive firefighters to go above and beyond the call of duty for their communities. Read profiles of some Quiet Warriors below, whose acts of kindness and bravery have helped strengthen the bond between the fire service and the citizens you serve.
Edgewater firefighter David Blair donated his kidney to Heidi Hughes after responding to a social media post seeking help by Hughes’ father
After Blake Rine was diagnosed with cancer, he traveled around Ohio warning firefighters of their exposure to carcinogens, prompting fire departments to make changes
Luis Garcia’s South Florida Opioid Crisis Mortality Reduction Project hopes to reduce the number of fatal overdoses
Chris Wetzel, a firefighter with Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department, recalls what it was like to be on scene while a gunman opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip
Mark Regina helped a trapped mother get her small children out of the home through a window after he smelled smoke nearby
Lt. Daniel Burgos and FDNY Paramedic Kevin Costello jumped into action after seeing a woman trying to grab a bag from a man’s wheelchair
The crew, who rescued Ernest Silva, 92, when he fell into his well after the pump house floor gave way, returned to rebuild it for him
Firefighter Chas Martin treated Devyn Holmes after Cassandra Damper shot him in the head while playing with a gun during a Facebook Live video
Firefighters and police officers helped give a boy with cancer a hero’s welcome as he made his return to school
Dan Stalfire was at the movies with his family watching “I Can Only Imagine” when he heard a woman struggling in his row
Lt. Jason McNally fell 30 feet into a river after sliding across the hood of a burning vehicle and trying to pull the driver out of the car
Capt. Brandon Thompson stayed with Channelview band director Aaron Allison after he was airlifted to the hospital
Firefighting requires a team, but a strong team honors individual members for their good work and good ideas
A woman in Michigan contacted the wrong Wayland Fire Department on Facebook when her son started choking and she did not have access to a phone
The firefighter was passing by when he saw an officer struggling with a mental health patient who grabbed his gun and fired
Firefighter John Conway, who was on vacation in Bali, carried the woman 5,600 feet down Mount Batur after she fell off of a viewing platform
Avalon Fire Department Captain John Meffert was on his way home for a Fourth of July getaway when Frank and Janan Pisano’s plane hit his car and crashed onto the freeway
Henrico County firefighters manually pushed the person home after the chair malfunctioned in a Target parking lot
Stephen Cresci jumped into action when Juan Camacho, who was having dinner next to him, began choking on a piece of lamb
Chris Quinlan was on his way to work when he witnessed a truck hit a road barrier before being hit by two semis, causing it to catch fire
Danny Atlas said he saw his elderly neighbor “completely on fire” as she tried to extinguish her clothes with a water spigot
Kevin Scott was passing by the home when he saw the fire and learned a child was inside
Firefighter Shane Kirk’s home was destroyed a couple of hours before he responded to a 1,000-acre grass fire
Paramedics were also on hand while Ron Villemaire had a private showing of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Three off-duty first responders built the ramp for a girl with Spina bifida after responding to a medical call and seeing the unsafe ramp at her home
Local officials said the community helped raise the $800 needed for the adaptable sled within hours
Scott Stroup met the Nelson family after catching 5-year-old Destiny, whose parents threw her from a third-floor window
The video shows Captain Scott Stroup standing ready under the balcony as a parent is forced to toss him a child from a ladder two stories up the building
Captain Jackie Peckrul caught the baby after frantic parents threw their children to safety from a third-floor apartment
The firefighter can be seen pulling two firefighters to safety after they were trapped under the house that collapsed shortly after crews arrived
Kevin Shea donated his kidney to Lois Knudson, a special-education teacher who has idolized firefighters her entire life
Monica Kelsey created the Safe Haven Baby Boxes as a way for mothers to surrender newborns anonymously under Indiana’s safe haven law