STATter 911

Watch excerpts and interviews from Thursday's announcement

National Seat Belt Pledge website

The number 12 has Dr. Burton Clark shaking his head. That's how many firefighters have been killed in line-of-duty vehicle collisions, so far this year, who were not wearing seat belts. Clark, who is Management Science Program Chair at the National Fire Academy, takes this personally. He has been sounding the alarm, trying to get firefighters to buckle-up, and sign-up for the National Fire Service Seat Belt Pledge.

Those efforts brought Clark, US Fire Administration Deputy Assistant Administrator Charlie Dickinson, and others to Washington on Thursday. In front of the quarters of DC Fire & EMS Engine 28 & Truck 14, the latest class of recruits took the pledge. Among those joining them with their hands raised, were DC Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin, his assistant and deputy chiefs and IAFF Local 36 president Dan Dugan.

Charlie Dickinson also presented Chief Rubin a $376,000 check from FEMA for the department's driver training programs. Rubin says this grant will be used to purchase an ambulance driving simulator. The department already has a fire truck simulator.

Supporting this effort to promote firefighter safety were Meri-K Appy with the Home Safety Council and Cathy Hedrick of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

Both Chief Rubin and Dr. Clark talked about their days as young firefighters. It was a time when fire trucks didn't come equipped with seat belts. Both men spent the early part of their careers in the DC Fire Department.

In the 1970s, before he became Dr. Clark, Firefighter Burton Clark led another campaign in the District of Columbia. He appeared frequently on TV urging the public to install smoke detectors in their homes and apartments. Click below to see a 30-year-old interview with Burton Clark, following a fatal apartment fire on Bowen Road, SE.

Watch October 18, 1977 interview with Firefighter Burton Clark

These days, Burton Clark is doing the interviewing. In the video below, he talks to two firefighter from Libertytown in Frederick County, MD. They tell how seat belts saved their lives after a fire truck crash on I-270 in September.