Thursday, December 23, 2010

THE BROTHERHOOD


Hanging around the local fire department for a good portion of my life, the brotherhood between the firefighters is enormous. Every day they walk into their station, they have a goal of going home when the shift is over. I have watch them laugh, cry, become parents, attend their children's weddings, loose parents, divorce and marry and I have watched them die. Several years ago an accident between two trucks happened on a Christmas Day, I was there within minutes and spent the rest of my day offering help. That is what the firefighters do when there is a problem, backup each other.
Today the Chicago Fire Department morns the lost of two firefighters from an early morning three alarm fire, the department is in morning. It is hard any time to loose someone, but just days before Christmas is hard. They went to work and planned on going home. Below you will find some interesting information from "The Secret List" concerning the the Chicago Department's Commissioner:
SOME OF THE NEWER MEMBERS OF THE SECRET LIST MAY NOT KNOW THAT when Chicago Fire Commissioner Bob Hoff spoke about the brotherhood of Firefighters today to the media, in his thoughts were also on another winter day when a South Side building collapsed, killing 2 Firefighters in the Line of Duty.

HOWEVER-on that day, Feb. 14, 1962, it was (now) Commissioner Hoff's father, Battalion Chief Thomas Hoff and Chief Robert O'Brien, head of fire safety for the department, who were the ones who gave their lives when they were buried in rubble. That LODD was the general basis for the movie "BACKDRAFT" when the 2 Brothers lost their Dad in the Line of Duty.

1 comment:

Sean M. Carpenter said...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of the Fire department Brotherhood nationwide.

Thanks for all you to to protect and serve.