Dennis Leary doesn’t want to host another golf tournament as a fundraiser. Or auction.
But the comedian, who is currently starring in the Fox comedy “Dutchman” and is known for voicing Diego in the “Ice Age” movies, needs more donations for his Leary Firefighters Foundation. He came up with the “crazy idea” to host a Firefighter for a Day event, partnering with the FDNY and the FDNY Foundation to commemorate International Firefighter Day, which is celebrated annually on May 4.
Since 2016, the foundation’s Denis Leary FDNY Firefighter Challenge is the only day each year that 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 required for emergency response.
“It was exciting from the beginning,” Leary told The Associated Press. “Now, ten years later, it’s getting better and better every year. It’s just amazing.”
Participants train with real firefighters to rush into burning buildings, carry fire hoses to extinguish the flames, and search for survivors. They also rappelled the building to safety.
Leary, who has long been connected to firefighters through the foundation and the long-running FX series “Rescue,” said participants don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do. But once they see the teamwork and expertise involved, they often take on more than they planned.
He laughed when he recalled that “The Good Wife” star Julianna Margulies had planned to be a coach rather than a participant when he kept her on his new team for a year.
“About two hours later, I went by the high-rise simulator and she came out in full sand trap gear and she said, ‘I just rappelled down the side of the building!'” Leary said. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ and she said, ‘I know! I got over all my fears.'”
Fire departments ‘fighting for every $100’
Thanks to Leary, the event attracted many actors, athletes and businesses to lend their support. Each year, the event raises enough money for the foundation to provide several additional grants to fire departments across the country to purchase new equipment or receive additional training they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford, said David Morkal, a retired FDNY battalion chief and Leary Firefighters Foundation board member.
“When we started this 10 years ago, we were giving out about $200,000 in grants a year, and now we’re giving out $850,000,” Morkal said, adding that the foundation hopes to reach $1 million in grants this year. “There are volunteer fire departments who are fighting for every hundred dollars they can get.”
Mokal said the standards for gifts today remain the same as they were when Leary founded the foundation in 2000, following a tragic fire in Worcester, Mass., 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 get out of a fire and go home to their families after it’s out,” Mokar said. “That’s what we’re doing. We’re providing them with the training and equipment.”
John Tyson, assistant fire chief for the Talladega, Ala., Fire Department, said his department uses forced entry trainers provided by the Leary Foundation almost every day.
Tyson said the equipment allows firefighters to quickly break through locked doors and makes the fire department more effective when responding to emergency calls, but it pales in comparison to high-priority items in the fire department’s always-tight budget. Tyson, who has been a firefighter and paramedic for decades, said he believes people appreciate the fire service, but they don’t always realize first responders often need support.
“We’re just a small department in rural Alabama,” he said, adding that he was grateful that the Leary Foundation was willing to help. “What touches me is that someone who has achieved success still wants to give back.”
Leary’s foundation fills ‘huge void’ of budget shortfall
Edward A. Kelly, president of the International Association of Firefighters, said he hopes the Leary Firefighters Foundation is not needed and that fire departments can afford the equipment and training they need without charitable help.
“When you think about the core role of government, first and foremost 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. “One of the problems we have is that America’s fire department budgets are competing with so many other demands from city government — whether it’s schools, new bridges, parks or anything that gets politicians re-elected. It’s a flawed system.”
Kelly said the Leary Foundation is in a “huge void” trying to address the shortcomings created by the system. He added that 26 years after the foundation’s donation, most fire departments in the country own equipment donated by the foundation.
“We are so grateful to Dennis and all those who help support the Leary Foundation,” he said. “Whatever can fill the gap and prevent the next tragedy is worth investing in.”
Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Leary hoped the federal government would no longer need his foundation.
“There was a brief moment about six months later where we thought, ‘Is the government going to step in?'” he said. “It was the slimmest hope, but we realized, ‘No, of course not.'” But that’s okay. I love doing this. “
Leary said he is following the example of his friend, Boston Bruins hockey great and current team president Cam Neely, and his work supporting cancer patients at Tufts Medical Center.
“He was the first person I met who made me think, ‘Wow, celebrities can really change the world,'” Leary said. “So when I had to do something, I already had a good example of what you can do with fame.”
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