Editor’s note: On September 11, 2011, thousands of firefighters will honor the sacrifice paid by the 343 FDNY firefighters who were killed 10 years ago in the attack on the World Trade Center. That day not only changed the fire service forever; it also changed the way the fire service reacts to and works to prevent firefighter line-of-duty deaths. Perhaps no one is more qualified to discuss those changes than Ron Siarnicki, executive director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. FireRescue spoke with Chief Siarnicki about the upcoming anniversary and how the NFFF will be involved.
FireRescue magazine: What effect has 9/11 had on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) and what changed at the Foundation following this event?
Ron Siarnicki: 9/11 was a turning point for the Foundation. Prior to 9/11, we were a small entity in Emmitsburg, Maryland; we had great programs, but not much of a national presence. We were asked to assist in New York, and that helped the Foundation become more involved on the national scene. As a result, we grew and added more programs and services.
FRM: What programs did you add?
RS: Our focus on behavioral health elements, related to Life Safety Initiative #13, [“Firefighters and their families must have access to counseling and psychological support.”] is one example. We’re doing so much more now with the behavioral health program, and that’s based on a lot of things we learned by being involved with FDNY and with Charleston. Also, corporate outreach and fundraising increased dramatically as a result of our efforts to help FDNY, and that in turn increased awareness of who we are and what we do.
FRM: What do you feel is the most important lesson(s) we need to take away from 9/11?
RS: There are a couple takeaways. First, we need to be ever-vigilant that it could happen anywhere in the country. Second, there needs to be a mechanism to support the fire service community, the families and the general public when something like 9/11 occurs. That’s what the Foundation was about in New York, helping FDNY build upon the existing programs with support for the families. There are still 9/11 families doing a lot with us now; we’re still in New York a lot, because it’s all about helping–when that tragedy occurs and long after.
FRM: Describe some of your continuing involvement with the 9/11 families.
RS: We’ve done a lot with the children of those who were killed, and we contribute to a newsletter that lets families know about services that are available to them. We run the Survivors Support Network, and we have an annual survivors conference. 9/11 also helped strengthen our relationship with FDNY; it led to us bringing the Everyone Goes Home program to the city. Commissioner Sal Cassano has been a great supporter of firefighter safety, and that’s enabled us to put our material in the department and create new materials with and for them to make that fire department safer.
FRM: It goes without saying that 9/11 changed the way the public viewed firefighters. Today, that perception is much different. What happened, and how can the fire service regain that respect?
RS: Generally speaking, 9/11 brought more attention to what firefighters do, who they are and the sacrifices they’re willing to make in their communities. There’s always been the general understanding that when everyone’s running out of the building, we’re running in. But 9/11 brought that to national attention.
Today, in tough economic times, people are questioning our pensions and the funds that are allocated to the fire department. What we have to do is get out there and tell our side of the story. There are administrators, budget people and those in private industry who are all trying to get a piece of the pie, and we need to talk about the great things we do to show why we need a piece too.
I think the key is not to get caught up in the war over dollars and cents, because the truth is, when someone has an emergency and picks up the phone and dials 9-1-1, most often it’s going to be the fire service that gets there first. And the caller doesn’t care what the firefighters’ salaries or pensions are or what the department budget is. What they care about is that we’re there to help. So we need to show the great things the fire service does.
In addition, we need to remind people of all the diverse services we provide. We don’t just sit around and wait for fires; we do public education, prevention, building codes, inspection, home visits, smoke detector installation, etc. People tend to forget that we’re doing these things every day, plus responding to calls for service.
FRM: Do you think the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 presents an opportunity to remind people of what firefighters do?
RS: I think it does, but we in the fire service community need to make it so that it’s not just 9/11; although it’s a very significant day, we don’t want to capitalize on the tragedy. And, we also need to highlight all the other sacrifices–the Charlestons, the Worcesters and the everyday LODDs.
Last year, 70-plus firefighters went out to serve their community and didn’t come home. That’s the story we have to make sure people remember. But the fire service needs to do its part, too. We need to go out and embrace more public activities, provide non-emergency support to citizens, so that we’re doing our part to adapt to a changing environment and a tough economy. We need to show that we understand what’s going on. The process is a two-way street.
FRM: Since 9/11, the NFFF and many others have embarked on a number of research projects to enhance firefighter safety and survivability. What’s the status on the research initiatives and what’s next for the Foundation?
RS: In May, we held the second annual Fire Service Research Symposium in Emmitsburg. We had about 80 individuals involved from national fire organizations, the institutions that are doing the research and interested parties. We talked about where the research needs to go next, what are some of the items that people need to look at. Definitely use of technology is one of those–working smarter and more effectively. We also still need to focus on the health issues–heart attacks are still the leading cause of LODDs, so we need to focus on both preventive and diagnostic efforts to prevent those. We need to do the research so we can justify the funding that we need to institute preventive efforts so we can get the heart issues under control.
FRM: Is this focus on research relatively new to the fire service?
RS: I think it’s a matter of survivability. If we don’t get the research done to support the programs we need, we won’t survive. This is a world that relies on numbers. It used to be that the image of a firefighter carrying a baby out of a burning building was enough to get the things that we needed, but it’s not working anymore. We need to be able to show city managers, administrators and budget analysts the numbers. We live in a society that wants to see the return on investment, the business model. That’s our ability to document why and how we’re doing things is so critical.
FRM: What suggestions do you have to best remember the 9/11 victims?
RS: I think that every community has to decide what’s best for them. Some are doing days of remembrance, ceremonies at the fire department, stair climbs. The bottom line: People need to do something to never forget. Take the time to reflect on the day, on who we are, where we live, what happened and what our military is doing to protect that lifestyle and those freedoms.
Remember: Nobody wants to continue to go to [events that seem like] a funeral ceremony. The key is to make sure that the event you’re putting together “does no harm”–this is something we continually come back to at the Foundation. Oftentimes, people assume that if there’s a memorial, we have to play “Taps” and “Amazing Grace,” and that can be stressful because it brings memories of the funeral back. We need a celebration of life, something positive.
FRM: How will the NFFF be marking the anniversary?
RS: We’re doing something in Baltimore at Firehouse Expo and something in Atlanta at Fire-Rescue International. We call it Better Angels, and it consists of one wall of individual oil paintings of every one of the 343 firefighters killed on 9/11. On the other side of the wall are all the names of every firefighter who has died in the line of duty and has been honored by the Foundation–the same names that are on the Memorial Wall in Emmitsburg. So we’re raising awareness about firefighters who died, about the Foundation and about the need to never forget all the lost firefighters. In 2001, there were 99 other firefighters who died in the line of duty that year. Those 99 are just as important as the 343.
Also, as a part of the display, we will have informational pieces related to the Public Safety Officers Benefit and other programs that are provided by the Department of Justice, which will hopefully raise awareness within the fire community as to what benefits are out there, but also what programs are out there to prevent LODDs. So the exhibit is really three-fold: prevention, response and remembrance.
The Foundation will commemorate 9/11 in July in Emmitsburg, and we’ll likely have some events in August. We’re not planning a ceremony on September 11, because we felt it would force the families to choose between going to the New York City ceremonies, to their fire department’s events or to Emmitsburg. The Foundation will have a presence in New York City on 9/11; we’re working with Commissioner Cassano to support them, to do whatever they want us to do, but we’re staying in the background.
