"Does the United Kingdom Have the Fourth of July Too?"

The title of this blog is an old, old joke, going back in time to when I was a kid; you know, when dinosaurs still lumbered around and we rode our pet pterodactyl to get anywhere from our cave! The answer: of course England, et al, have a 4th of July. However, to them, it's just another day on the calendar. And of course, the same holds true for every society that follows the Julian calendar.

A lot of time has passed since then and many things have changed, whether we wanted them to do so or not. However, there is one singular item that stands out; its value does does change with time. Moreover, it is a precious commodity that is valuable to every single person on the face of this, "Blue Marble," no matter where they live; be it in the Arctic all the way south to and Antarctic. That item is freedom. 

As I write this entry into our blog, it is July 3. 2017, the 241st anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. As we all know, it took a bloody and fatal Revolutionary War against the British Crown to win our freedom, paid for by the death of many soldiers and civilians on both sides.

While in the good ol' US of A, tomorrow means cookouts, beer, fireworks and more beer, I've have always wondered how many of those that celebrate the holidays this way, give a thought of the price this country has paid to provide us with this precious commodity over all these years.

For me, personally, I look at it through World War II for a couple of personal reasons. First, my father served in the Army during the War and was stationed in the Pacific Theater. He was at many of the islands that are listed for intense battles, such as Iwo Jima, Kwajalein Atoll and Guadalcanal. He was not on the front-line, but the third-line. What is the "third-line?" According to him, this was the support group. Once the majority of fighting was over, these men came in to set up sleeping quarters, cooking tents, latrines, etc. My dad was a cook, which served him very well all years after the War was over, as he took over the kitchen in our home each weekend. 

Second, one of my uncles served in the European Theater, but for a very short time. He served in a tank brigade and was about to participate in the D-Day invasion. After their ship brought them to  France as close to the German lines as possible, they used the night to move close to the border. 

At dawn, the order was given and the battle was engaged. Before my uncle's tank could fire their first round, a German round hit his tank. He was blown clear out of the tank, landing quite a distance away, severely injured with broken bones and severe burns, but he survived. The same could not be said for his for his three comrades.  Medics arrived relatively "quickly" for the times and treated him as best he could. Eventually, he was air-lifted to England and then back to the States. He was my "closest" uncle in two ways; first, he and his wife, who was one of my mother's sisters, always lived very close to our family. My Dad and my uncle got along famously and no matter where we moved, they settled there, too. And I suppose it was the constant proximity and all the time the families spent together, that truly endeared him to me. His injury recovery had to be good, as we only lost him five and a half years ago, when he passed at the age of 104.

The third personal reason why I attribute freedom to World War II, is due to the Nazi regime's planned and deliberate extermination of the Jewish population of Germany, first, to be followed by every country that Germany conquered and, in Hitler's maniacal mind, the world, once the Germans would have attained world domination. While most people connect the word, "Holocaust" with the six million Jews who were put to death in one manner or another, they forget that another three million Germans were murdered due to disease and disability. They did not fit in Hitler's definition for the perfect Arian race!

And closer to home, my beloved wife's parents were both interred in concentration and work camps during the war, while many more relatives were lost to the German hate machine. So yes - I do see the sacrifice that are both our civilians and our soldiers perished or were severely injured, through World War II, but also in very battle, skirmish and war they found to give us freedom, all the way back to the Revolutionary War. 

Tomorrow, I hope you will take a moment to remember every single civilian and military militia member, soldier, sailor, flyer, marine and special forces, who lived and died so that we can continue to celebrate July 4th.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July and

 God Bless the United States of America

 Stay Safe and let's make sure that Everyone Goes Home.

 The Firehouse Tribune

Fire-Tec

http://www.cooltowelonline.com

 

Why Us? Why is it Always Firefighters??

In no other profession do its workers go form "Heroes-to-Zeros" more quickly than in fire-rescue. It doesn't matter if we're career, volunteer, combo or paid-on-call, we are all "painted" with the same, very wide brush. "Why?" you ask. Because everything we do is inherent in performing our sworn oath, to protect and save people and property. 

Think about it; almost every time there is a big story about a rescue, a major conflagration and yes, even an LODD, all manner of newspapers, Internet sites, television stations, all whip up a huge froth, lauding the fire-rescue people who were involved as "great heroes," "bravest of the brave," and so on. Then, a week later, community leaders start asking questions about the career department's contract or the volunteer department's need to replace a twenty-seven year old engine, with seals leaking and a tank that can barely hold water! Not to mention the need for new PPE, Haz-Mat needs, etc. "Heroes-to-Zeros!"

This revolving door of adoration followed by disrespect has always bothered me. It bothered me before I became a firefighter and it has bothered me ever since. For the most part, our comrades in "blue" and "green" are not affected by this as much as the fire-rescue service is. Funny thing is that all three services take an oath for the greater good of society. However, in my eyes, we always wind up with the "short straw."

If you've been following this blog for a time you are well aware that for the last twenty or so years, our company, Dalmatian Productions, Inc., has been working very diligently to bring a positive-themed show about the fire service to television. OK, so it was only television and videotape when we started in 1992 and today, it is all manner of video distribution. 

When the "tone" of reality turned negative, we decided that the only chance we had was to try dramatic television. We had bounced around several ideas and finally settled on our current project, "CAUSE & ORIGIN." When writing the script, our goals were to be as realistic as possible, include educational aspects and develop a story that will entertain viewers whether or no they are affiliated with the fire service. Our story line is not just "smoke, flames and sirens;' rather it tells the complete story of a third-generation firefighter and what he deals with in his department and in his home life. We have provided both our synopsis and pilot script to many folks, both in and out of the fire service. Not one, not a single one came back with a negative review or comment! We believe that speaks to the quality of our premise and how it is told. 

Having had a great deal of exposure to and work with the Philadelphia Fire Department, we based our story there. And we are very proud to say that the PFD and the Office of Film & Television support our efforts. 

However, if you look at any television listings magazine, you will see a plethora of television shows based on the police. There's a mixture of shows that have been on for many years and others that are more recent, as well as news one debuting this month. This begs the question, "Where are any shows about the fire service?"

That answer is simple. There is one. Only one. One that chose titillation, infidelity and drug abuse, not to mention numerous depictions of actions that no firefighter would do, nor would an officer order a firefighter to do. 

That's it. No more. Just one show. Does this speak to the point that the fire service is so droll and simplistic that it cannot carry a television audience? Are we just blase and not worth the effort?

To be perfectly honest, maybe we are. A year ago, we posted both the synopsis and the entire script for the pilot episode on Amazon's TV website. It allows people to visit the project, read whatever is posted there about it and to leave their own comments. If there is a strong, positive reaction by the visitors, Amazon might actually, pick the show up, at least to produce a pilot episode.  I busted my butt to get as many people as I could to go to the site. I used our Twitter accounts, emails and phone calls. And the total number of people that just visited the site over three or four months? Twelve! Only twelve people took a few minutes to visit our page on the Amazon site. 

Somehow, some way, we, as a united effort, need to get a message to the TV-streaming industry, that a strong and positive show about the fire service is, at the least, worth producing a pilot and testing it with audiences. These networks spend hundreds of millions of dollars on pilots and shows that they cut after just two or three episodes. All we want is a chance. 

Finally, the message I want to get across to every producer is to remember who shows up at your door when you dial 9-1-1 for a medical or fire emergency!

Stay safe and let's make sure every firefighter goes home.