The Fire Protection Podcast: Episode #73 – Giving Tuesday with Victor Stagnaro, CEO of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

g us.  

Victor Stagnaro:

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. I appreciate the invite.  

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, it was interesting. I have been talking to a lot of people within the industry, and I wanted to do something a little bit different.  

We are launching this podcast on Giving Tuesday. I think it is a very important day in America and in the world to try to give back.  

Obviously, we should give back as much as possible throughout the year, but this day spotlights some charitable and nonprofit organizations like yourself. I think we have been doing that for the last few years, and I would love for you to talk about your mission and everything.  

So welcome.  

Victor Stagnaro:

Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it again.  

When it comes to Thanksgiving and Giving Tuesday, I just read a lot of studies about mental health and gratitude is among the greatest benefits to good mental health.  

Thanksgiving is just a perfect time, and Giving Tuesday is yet another opportunity to express gratitude by supporting different organizations.  

So I am really grateful that you are considering the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation for this special day.  

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. I have been doing a little research over the last month or so, and I am really excited about what you guys do.  

I guess, for the listeners, a lot of them work with fire protection, fire alarm systems, sprinkler systems, suppression systems, and we go outside of that.  

We go into the fire hydrants and different fire protection engineering topics.  

But for the listeners out there, I guess, explain who you are, Victor, as the CEO of the organization and what the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is about.  

Victor Stagnaro:

Sure, yeah, thanks. I started off as a volunteer firefighter in Silver Spring, just like a lot of kids really interested in the fire service.  

I remember, out in elementary school, the house where I lived, across the street and behind those houses, were some guard apartments. This probably was in the late seventies, and there was a fire.  

I saw the fire trucks show up and the hose coming off the back and firefighters running in with hose packs. I was just amazed at the teamwork, the operation, and that nobody spoke.  

There wasn’t chaos; there was a rush, but it was really exciting to watch.  

I was driving by a firehouse at the age of 17 or 18, and I told myself, “Volunteers wanted.”  

So I walked in and asked for paperwork, and I didn’t realize you could be a volunteer.  

I became a volunteer firefighter in Montgomery County. I was a volunteer at Silver Spring, Maryland.  

The firehouse is now a restaurant, but back then, the firehouse was being rehabbed.  

I remember thinking we were all in the day room instead of the bunk room because the firehouse was being redone, and it was during a big snowstorm. I remember how quiet it was when there was snow, and there was just the banter going back and forth.  

I thought, “Wow, if I could do this and get paid, that would be the best thing that could happen to me.”  

I was fortunate enough to get hired in Prince George’s County. I served as a fire marshal, company officer, and did training for all kinds of different jobs, which is really neat to be able to be a part of an organization that is big enough that I have had multiple different jobs as a firefighter. I retired as the Deputy Chief of Operations and came to work for the foundation.  

My connection with the foundation was in the late nineties.  

I started volunteering at the Memorial Weekend, and, like many people who work and volunteer for the foundation, when you see what the foundation does and how it supports the families, it just gets in your blood and you want to continue to support them.  

That is how I got started. I was initially the Director of Fire Programs, which is our line-of-duty death prevention program.  

Then I was the Managing Director. I was blessed to be the CEO of an organization whose mission is to honor every firefighter that dies in the line of duty, support their families, and do what we can to reduce line-of-duty deaths and injuries.  

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, that is amazing. Where did the foundation begin?  

Victor Stagnaro:

Yeah, so in about 1991, Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes attended Law Enforcement Week and saw all the work that was being done by the Concerns of Police Survivors and everything related to that memorial.  

He said, “Knowing that the National Memorial for Fallen Firefighters is in Emmitsburg, Maryland…”  

It is a FEMA site. It is the home of the United States Fire Administration.  

He, being from Maryland, thought, “Well, who does this for the fire service?”  

He realized that, at the time, the US Fire Administration was responsible for the memorial, but there was nobody that was focused on supporting the families or doing anything related to fire prevention from that aspect.  

So he wrote legislation and we were created by Congress in 1992. We are a congressionally mandated organization as a nonprofit.  

We are not the only nonprofit ever created by Congress, but it is important to note that we are not a government agency.  

We are a fully nonprofit organization.  

Drew Slocum:

It is amazing that Congress got involved and obviously saw the need for the line of duty and the firefighters and what was happening.  

Congress got on board, and Maryland is arguably probably one of the best states for fire prevention and fire protection.  

The University of Maryland has a great program there, and it definitely infiltrates the community down there.  

Victor Stagnaro:

I think it really gives gravitas to what we do as an organization that Congress said there needs to be an organization that does this for the families and for our firefighters.  

I use that word, “commission,” because, like in the military, when you are in the Naval Academy, there is a commissioning ceremony.  

I feel like we are commissioned by the federal government to accomplish our mission.  

It carries a big weight. You are right. Maryland, having not only the home of the National Memorial and the United States Fire Administration, but so many leaders coming out of the University of Maryland and their fire protection program, is really leading the nation in sprinkler legislation and fire prevention. We are very fortunate to be a part of the Maryland system.  

Drew Slocum:

That is amazing. What types of programs does the foundation support?  

Obviously, it is supporting the families of fallen firefighters, but can you describe what those resources are going toward?  

Victor Stagnaro:

Yeah, so let me share a quick story.  

I was on a Zoom call with a group of people, one of which was the mom of a fallen firefighter.  

Her son was in his mid to late twenties when he was killed in a highway accident when a drunk driver plowed through and catapulted him into oncoming traffic.  

She said that, for almost a week, his coworkers and members of his fire department supported them as a family.  

Then she said, “You know what happens the day after you bury your son? The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation swoops in, wraps its arms around you, and saves your lives.”  

That was just a really moving moment for me to know that with that family, we had hit the mark.  

What we do is we honor every fallen firefighter that dies in the line of duty. We do this the first Sunday in May.  

That is when the National Memorial occurs. This year, it will be—or I guess I should say 2025—it will be May 4th or 5th.  

That is our first and one of our primary missions: to make sure that every firefighter is properly honored and the nation pauses to give its gratitude for their service to their community.  

Then we support the families. We do that not only at the National Memorial….  

They come in on the Friday before the ceremony, we have a group dinner, and we connect them on Saturday. There are grief seminars.  

Saturday night, there is a candlelight service, which is really a moving, beautiful ceremony.  

Sunday is the national ceremony. We do a wellness conference for the families.  

We just recently had a wellness conference in Mesa, Arizona. We bring the families together.  

There is a lot of peer support that occurs with the families.  

We have a kid’s camp, which is an extraordinary event where toddlers all the way up through high school are able to come.  

I did have a mom and dad who lost two sons in a vehicle crash, and they had another son and a daughter that attended the camp.  

They talked about how their surviving son, who was in high school at the time, was having a really difficult time having lost two brothers. After spending some time with some peers, other kids who had lost a loved one, whether it was their dad or brother or sister or mom, he was able to connect with them in such a way that she said to me after her son came back from kid’s camp, “We got our son back.”  

Drew Slocum:

Wow.  

Victor Stagnaro:

It is just…if you remember as a high school kid, if you went to some kind of camp, there was bonding that occurred. Well, this is bonding on steroids, and that young man is coming back as a camp counselor next year. He aged out, but he wants to come back.  

The fact that he is going to be a camp counselor supporting other kids is just extraordinarily meaningful.  

We do the kid’s camp, and we do things for siblings.  

A lot of times, siblings will feel left out when there is so much focus on the sibling that has died in the line of duty.  

It is important to support the parents and siblings. We do a scholarship program. It is very impactful.  

We have some families that we have been able to give full rides to because of financial need.  

There are a lot of programs that we do for our families.  

Of course, we have a lot of work that we do that tries to prevent line-of-duty deaths and injuries. A lot of it is focused on decision-making.  

We have an affiliate organization, the First Responder Center for Excellence, that really focuses on cancer, mental health, cardiac-related issues, and fitness.  

There is a lot of work being done to try to reduce the number of firefighters that we honor and have fewer families for us to serve.  

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, I guess that is the goal, to reduce the number of people you need to serve at the end of the day if you are trying to prevent some of those deaths and injuries.  

Victor Stagnaro:

Absolutely. Yes. That is why the fire prevention component is such an essential piece.  

I remember, even as the Fire Marshal in Prince George’s County, every time we had a fire, it was a fire prevention failure, or at least that is the way I felt.  

“What more can we be doing to prevent that?” I would ask myself.  

There is always going to be plenty of activity for the fire service, unfortunately.  

If we can reduce the number of fires, we will reduce the number of firefighter fatalities, as well as provide better service to the community.  

Drew Slocum:

Even on the fire protection side, the sprinkler systems are made—the majority of the time they are putting it out—but they are made to control the fire and the fire service still has to be there and come in to really look at what is going on.  

A lot of times, it goes wrong even after some of those systems go off.  

It is not eliminating the problem; it is just obviously helping with that….  

Victor Stagnaro:

Prevention? Yes, absolutely.  

I think fire prevention means having good education and good systems in place to alert and maybe help give families or people enough time to get out of a building.  

There is a lot of confusion out there. There are a lot of people who believe that a residential sprinkler system is supposed to put a fire out.  

It is really there just to give the people that are inside an opportunity to get out, and then the fire service has to come in.  

It is certainly not going to put the fire service out of business, this current state and where we are going.  

What have you seen over the last few years, mainly working with the prevention side and working with the fire service industry? What do you see as the top few issues that firefighters are currently dealing with in their line of duty?  

Victor Stagnaro:

The mission generally stays the same: it is to protect life and property. That is unchanging.  

Obviously, there is so much research that has gone on about what our homes and offices are filled with.  

Weight is a huge issue. The standard things that we saw 30 years ago with wood and metal and with the materials that are in our furniture are gone. It is more lightweight now.  

It is petroleum-based, so fires are much, much quicker than they have ever been.  

It has been said that at no time in our history has somebody had less time to get out of a burning building than today.  

The dangers are much, much greater than they have ever been.  

From the firefighter standpoint and the firefighter life safety standpoint, the emergence of cancer, which is something we did not recognize before, is very prevalent.

The mental health issues… Several years ago, we were at about 40 to 45 suicides a year, and that was underreported.

Now we are well over a hundred.

There are a lot of challenges.

The cardiac issues… It is a stressful job.

Then there are the things that we have always faced: structural collapse, being injured by falling through a floor, or being up on a roof and the roof collapsing.

There are a lot of dangers.

Drew Slocum:

With the mental health side, do you think that is because there is more awareness now, or do you think it is because there are more issues?

Victor Stagnaro:

I think it is a combination of both.

I think there is much more awareness, and I think that is a good thing.

There is still a stigma attached to mental health.

I think the more we talk about it, the more we will encourage people to come forward and say, “I need some help.”

That is a good thing.

I do think there are more challenges.

I think social media… If you think about it, 25 years ago, if you had a bad call, you could talk to your coworkers about it.

Now, because of social media and the prevalence of cameras and everything else, it is very likely that a really bad call that you go on, where you might have a pediatric fatality or something like that, is going to show up on social media.

You are going to be seeing it over and over again.

There is more exposure to trauma.

I think that has a lot to do with it.

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, I was going to say, I think it is the exposure, right?

You see it on the news; you see it on social media.

There is a lot more exposure to some of that stuff than there was 10, 20 years ago.

Victor Stagnaro:

Absolutely.

Drew Slocum:

What are some of the ways that people can donate to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation?

Victor Stagnaro:

The easiest way is to go right to firehero.org.

That is our website.

You can make a one-time donation, or you can become a monthly donor.

We have a couple of programs that we do.

We do a “Make It Monthly” program.

If you go to firehero.org, you can sign up to be a monthly donor.

We have a program called the “Calendar Club.”

You make a donation of $50 or more, and you get a beautiful calendar that has pictures of our fallen firefighters and different fire service activities.

We have a couple of events that we do.

We have a golf tournament coming up in Naples, Florida, on February 24th.

We have a 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb that we do every year in September.

Those are the primary ways that people support us.

Of course, we have a lot of corporate sponsors.

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, I see all the corporate sponsors on the website.

It is a good mix of fire protection companies and then just some bigger companies as well.

Victor Stagnaro:

Yeah, we are very fortunate.

We have some really great corporate sponsors that have been with us for a long time.

Drew Slocum:

That is awesome.

I guess, for our listeners, a lot of them are business owners.

What would you say to them about partnering with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation?

Victor Stagnaro:

I would say that partnering with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is a great way to demonstrate your support for the fire service and the fire protection industry.

If you have employees, it is a great way to say to your employees, “We care about the fire service. We care about the people who are going to be coming to help us if we have a fire or other problem at our facility.”

It is a great way to support the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

It is a great way to show your community that you care.

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, I think that is a great message.

I think a lot of people are trying to figure out different ways to give back, and this is a great avenue to do that.

Victor Stagnaro:

Yeah, and we are a four-star Charity Navigator, so all those funds go directly to your cause where there are a lot of, not-for-profits out there that you don’t know where it’s going. [cite: 117]

You guys are A-plus rated, so it is going right to the cause.

Victor Stagnaro:

Yeah, we have the four-star rating and we take a lot of pride in that. It is hard to do. And we do. We, as much as the donated dollar goes to services, we keep our overhead low. It means we have a very lean staff that does a lot of work.

Drew Slocum:

Well, I appreciate the time today and again, look forward to what you guys are doing and keeping up on it.

Victor Stagnaro:

Thank you, Drew, very much appreciate the opportunity. It was great to meet you.

Drew Slocum:

Yeah, you too. Thanks again, Victor.

Victor Stagnaro:

Sure thing.

Drew Slocum:

This has been episode 73 of the Fire Protection Podcast, powered by Inspect Point. I want to thank Victor Stagnaro again from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, stopping on the Fire Protection Podcast today. Great mission of what they do in the fire prevention community. And I see all the different corporate sponsors that Fire Protection is getting involved with them as well. So don’t forget, please book a demo in the month of December, get a hundred, give a hundred. So we’ll be giving a hundred dollars to the foundation, and you’ll also be getting a $100 Amazon gift card for booking that demo. So appreciate all the likes and subscribes. Take care. Thanks.