“When you’re in the fire service, it’s not an individual commitment, it’s a family commitment.”

Victor Stagnaro’s extensive experience as a firefighter has helped him become a better person outside of work. However, he also learned that this experience comes with a price to pay at home.

Mr. Stagnaro’s daughter told him that she never wanted to marry a firefighter. When he asked her why, she replied, “You see too much, you’re too hard.”

It is difficult to have the sensitivity a family needs when returning home after dealing with the emergencies that firefighters are called to resolve. Mr. Stagnaro’s words to other firefighters, especially those with families, come from experience:

“After helping people through their worst days as a first responder, you must remember the perspective of your family’s situations. Give your spouse and children the support they need when they face difficulties of their own.”

Victor Stagnaro is the Managing Director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF). He became a volunteer firefighter in Prince George’s County in Maryland at the age of 18 before earning a full-time role at the department in 1985. It did not take long for him to fall in love with the profession and the camaraderie that firefighting provided.

Mr. Stagnaro had the opportunity to serve as an Incident Commander with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation in the late 1990s which became his full-time role in 2001. 

The tragic events of September 11, 2001, occurred shortly after Mr. Stagnaro joined the NFFF. He and a team of NFFF members arrived in New York on September 12, 2001, to support firefighters and their families. The NFFF still maintains a strong presence in New York and it continues to take care of those firefighters and their families to this day.

Mr. Stagnaro highlighted the fact that firefighters are ordinary people with extraordinary duties. They are regular people who want to help others and have the specialized training and tools to do so.

It’s important for the rest of us to understand that these men and women struggle with the same difficulties as anyone else and that the things they see and resolve do take a toll.

Firefighters must remember this as well because they are not exempt from the physical or mental illnesses that may result from the stress of their job.

“Firefighters cross under the fire line tape because that’s not for them – that’s for the rest of the world.”

Firefighters tend to think that there is always a fire line tape that they are exempt from, but that’s not the case. In fact, firefighters are more likely to develop illnesses as a result of their line of work…

The average age of a heart attack in men is 65 (Harvard Health, 2019). Across all firefighters who have died from a heart attack, the average age is 48.7 (Smith, D., et al., 2018).

It is critical that firefighters stay safe, eat well, and take care of themselves.

Mr. Stagnaro closed our discussion with the story of his first fire…

After four months on the job, he and his colleagues had responded to the same apartment complex numerous times for false alarms. 

One day, his station got toned out to the same call as usual: fire alarm at the notorious apartment complex. 

Mr. Stagnaro felt confident as they approached the scene, knowing that he had taken care of this call numerous times already. As soon as they arrived on scene, he knew that this was no false alarm – it was a working fire with one of the rooms fully involved in flames!

His veteran colleagues were prepared and rolled out of the apparatus to immediately begin fighting the fire while Mr. Stagnaro had to take the time to get his bunker gear on properly. He remembers playing catchup the rest of the call. 

Thankfully, they were able to control the fire and nobody was seriously injured. He had learned his lesson and this was a mistake he vowed to never make again.