You may think of Denis Leary as a funny guy, but he is quite serious indeed when the subject turns to the plight of firefighters in America, reports The Wall Street Journal (11/14/06). Most NYC firefighters know that Dennis's interest in raising money for those who fight fires pre-dates the 2001 terrorist attacks. It also precedes the debut of his hit series, "Rescue Me," which centers on "a group of New York firefighters as they deal with survivor's guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder and other disorders." It actually dates back to a 1999 warehouse fire in his hometown of Worcester, Mass., that killed six firefighters including his cousin and a high school classmate.
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Before the tragedy, Denis says "he mostly ignored complaints from his cousin and friends about how fire departments -- in Worcester and across the country -- are constantly underfunded and undertrained." After the tragedy, he initially concerned himself with taking care of the "six widows and 17 fatherless children" left behind by the tragedy. Today, his focus is on raising money to make sure that firefighters have essential equipment, which is still lacking even in today's post-9/11, post-Katrina world. "The federal funding we received post-9/11 was for WMD/mass-casualty type of incidents," says NYFD Chief Nick Santeangelo. "The funding we are lacking is for basic skills training in firefighting and emergencies." To help with that, Denis set up the Leary Firefighters Foundation, learyfirefighters.org.
Since 2000, The Leary Foundation has raised over $5 million for uniformed firefighters in New York and Massachusetts.
In addition to grants for equipment and training, the Leary Firefighters Foundation distributed $1.9 million to the families of firefighters who perished on 9/11.
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