Denis Leary didn’t want to do another golf tournament for a fundraiser. Or an auction.
But the actor-comedian, currently starring in the Fox comedy “Going Dutch” and best known as the voice of Diego in the “Ice Age” movies, needed more donations for his Leary Firefighters Foundation. He came up with what he called a “crazy idea” to host a “Firefighter for a Day” event and teamed up with the Fire Department of New York and The FDNY Foundation to make it happen, in honor of International Firefighters Day celebrated every May 4.
Since 2016, the foundation’s Denis Leary FDNY Firefighter Challenge has been the only day each year when the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island in New York City is open to non-firefighters, who get a rare, hands-on opportunity to experience some of the training needed for emergency response.
“It was exciting from the get-go,” Leary told The Associated Press. “Now, 10 years in, it just gets better and better every year. It’s truly amazing.”
The participants train with actual firefighters and rush into burning buildings, carry in fire hoses to extinguish the flames, and search for survivors. They also rappel down buildings to safety.
Leary, who has long been connected to firefighters through the foundation and the long-running firehouse FX drama “Rescue Me,” said participants aren’t required to do anything they don’t want to. But once they see the teamwork and expertise involved, they often take on more than they planned.
He laughs when he remembers how “The Good Wife” star Julianna Margulies came one year, planning on being a coach rather than a participant when he left her with her new team.
“Maybe two hours later, I went over by the high-rise simulator and she was coming out in full bunker gear and she’s like, ‘I just rappelled down the side of the building!’” Leary said. “And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ She’s like, ‘I know! I overcame all my fears.’”
Fire departments ‘fighting for every $100’
Because of Leary, the event draws a lot of actors, as well as athletes and corporations looking to lend their support. Each year, the event raises enough money for the foundation to make several additional grants to fire departments across the country to purchase new equipment or receive additional training they would otherwise not be able to afford, said David Morkal, retired FDNY battalion chief and a member of the Leary Firefighters Foundation board of directors.
“When we started this 10 years ago we were giving out maybe $200,000 in grants a year and now we’re giving out $850,000,” said Morkal, adding the foundation hopes to reach $1 million in grants this year. “There are volunteer fire departments out there that are fighting for every $100 they can get.”
The criteria for the gifts, Morkal says, remains the same today as it was when Leary started the foundation in 2000, following the tragic fire in Worcester, Massachusetts, that killed six firefighters, including Leary’s cousin and a childhood friend.
“His mission is to provide them with all the equipment and training that (firefighters) need to walk away from a fire after it’s out and go home to their families,” Morkal said. “That’s the kind of stuff we’re doing. We’re giving them training and equipment.”
John Tyson, assistant fire chief at the Talladega Fire Department in Alabama, said the forcible entry trainer that his department received from Leary’s foundation is used almost every day.
The equipment, which enables firefighters to quickly breach locked doors, makes the department more effective when it answers emergency calls, but it paled in comparison to high-priority items in the department’s always-tight budget, Tyson said. Having spent decades as both a firefighter and a paramedic, Tyson said he believes people appreciate the fire service, but they don’t always recognize that first responders often need support.
“We’re a small department in rural Alabama,” he said, adding how grateful he was that Leary’s foundation wanted to help. “It’s touching to me that someone who has achieved the success he has still wants to give back.”
Leary's foundation fills ‘the giant void’ of budget shortfalls
International Association of Fire Fighters General President Edward A. Kelly said he wished that the Leary Firefighters Foundation wasn’t needed, that fire departments were able to afford the equipment and training they need without philanthropic help.
“When you think about the core role of government, first and foremost, it is to protect its citizens and that’s what fire departments do every day,” said Kelly, whose union represents 360,000 firefighters and first responders in the U.S. and Canada. “We have a problem where fire departments in the United States are on budgets where they’re competing with a multitude of other demands on city government -- whether it’s the schools or new bridges or parks or anything that’ll get a politician reelected. That’s a flawed system.”
Kelly said Leary’s foundation stands in “the giant void,” trying to address the shortfalls created by the system. He adds that most fire departments in the country have equipment donated by the foundation, after its 26 years of gifts.
“We owe a great debt of gratitude to Denis and to all the people that have helped support the Leary Foundation,” he said. “Whatever will fill the gap that will prevent the next tragedy is well worth the investment.”
Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Leary hoped the federal government would make his foundation unnecessary.
“There was a brief moment about six months later when we thought, ‘Is the government gonna step in?’” he said. “It was the tiniest glimpse of hope but we realized, ‘No, of course not.’ But that’s OK. I love doing this.”
Leary said he is following the example of his friend Boston Bruins hockey great Cam Neely, now the team’s president, and his work supporting cancer patients at Tufts Medical Center.
“He was the first person I saw where I thought, ‘Wow, somebody famous can really make a difference,’” Leary said. “So by the time I had to do something, I had a good example of what you can use fame for.”
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