In 2006, the National Fire Service Seatbelt Pledge was created, after the tragic death of Firefighter Brian Hutton who died after falling from his fire truck on the way to a call. Dr. Burton Clark, a distinguished member of the fire service and training specialist at the National Fire Academy, was compelled to challenge firefighters to improve their personal safety by wearing their seatbelts. With website and administrative support from TrainingDivision.com and Firehouse.com, the National Fire Service Seatbelt Pledge was introduced to the American Fire Service. This initiative is currently being managed by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Everyone Goes Home® program.
For more information on the International First Responder Seatbelt Pledge, the Everyone Goes Home® program, or the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation please go to www.everyonegoeshome.com.
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Seatbelt Success Story
“This year as part of our annual wildland fire safety refresher training (RT-130) we decided to discuss seatbelt use and safety as a module; particularly because of motor vehicle accidents being the number two cause of line of duty deaths for firefighters. As an addition, we decided to sign the Seatbelt Pledge as a group. As of today, 246 members of our crew, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service – Division A (North Region) have signed the pledge which exemplifies the level of commitment for safety of our crew operating in the field.”
This story was provided by Section Forest Firewarden Eric Weber from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
