NFPA Journal - November/December 2012 - (Page 6)

>> FIRSTWORD BY NFPA PRESIDENT JAMES M. SHANNON BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Chief Philip C. Stittleburg Chair La Farge Fire Department La Farge, Wisconsin Ernest J. Grant First Vice-Chair North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center Chapel Hill, North Carolina Philip J. DiNenno Second Vice-Chair Hughes Associates, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland Randolph W. Tucker Secretary ccrd partners Houston, Texas H. Wayne Boyd Treasurer U.S. Safety & Engineering Corporation Sacramento, California James M. Shannon President President and CEO, NFPA *Bruce H. Mullen Staff Officer Sr. Vice-President and CFO, NFPA *Dennis J. Berry Assistant Secretary Secretary of the Corporation, Director of Licensing, NFPA dIRECTORS Thomas W. Jaeger Past Chair Jaeger and Associates, LLC Great Falls, Virginia Terms Expire in 2013 Donald R. Cook Shelby County Department of Development Services Pelham, Alabama John C. Dean Office of Maine State Fire Marshal Augusta, Maine Chief Rebecca F. Denlinger Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Chief Ned Pettus, Jr. Columbus Division of Fire Columbus, Ohio Dean L. Seavers Pinecrest, Florida Keith E. Williams Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Northbrook, Illinois Terms Expire in 2014 Amy Acton The Phoenix Society Grand Rapids, Michigan James M. Clark Management Consultant Germantown, Tennessee Kwame Cooper Los Angeles Fire Department Los Angeles, California Julie A. Rochman IBHS Tampa, Florida Terms Expire in 2015 Peter Holland Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Lancashire, United Kingdom Brian Hurley Palm Beach, Florida William McCammon East Bay Regional Communications System Authority Dublin, California Harold A. Schaitberger International Assoc. of Fire Fighters Washington, D.C. William A. Stewart Toronto Fire Services (retired) Toronto, Ontario, Canada Peter J. Gore Willse XL GAPS Hartford, Connecticut *Not a member of the Board of Directors Two Stories, One Mission months later, when she came out of an induced coma, Princella learned that she had been severely scarred and had lost the use of her hands. Ann and Princella survived, but the burdens they carry never go away. They also learned that along with their own unimaginable losses had come an opportunity to be of service to others. For 70 years the Cocoanut Grove Fire has never been far from Ann’s mind, even as she married, became a mother, then a grandmother and great-grandmother. But she doesn’t dwell on all that she lost. As one of the last remaining survivors of the fire, Ann came to NFPA to let us make a video of her as WE ARE AN ORgANIzATION dEdICATEd to she told her story, because she finding technical answers to advance safety, but knows there are still important the human element is never far from our minds. lessons to be learned that can save lives. Her story will be available not just as an inspiring outing in Boston. They traveled from ing historical artifact, but as a permanent Keene, New Hampshire, to watch a college testimonial to the consequences of ignoring football game, followed by an evening of the threat of fire. dinner and dancing at the popular CocoaPrincella endured a long fight back from nut Grove nightclub. Seventy years later, the fire that almost killed her, as well as the Ann still does not know how she escaped knowledge that the loss of her hands meant Cocoanut Grove that night, when a fire the end of her career as a nurse. Undaunted, killed 492 people—including her parents, she returned to college, earned a degree, and her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s father. has dedicated her life to helping others who She doesn’t know how she avoided being have suffered severe burns. crushed to death, or killed by the smoke But for her it wasn’t enough. She wanted that hospitalized her for 24 days. to put her own story to use to help others, In March, 1992, Princella was at home in and she has become a relentless advocate Greenville, South Carolina, when a heating for residential sprinklers through our “Faces unit started a fire on a newly polyurethaned of Fire” campaign. floor. The family activated its home escape We are an organization dedicated to findplan, but Princella could not find her daugh- ing technical answers to advance safety, but ter at the predetermined meeting place. the human element—the lives affected, the Desperate, she raced back into the house courage of human endurance—is never far to look for her. Firefighters rescued her from our minds. Ann and Princella and all daughter, who was suffering from severe of the other extraordinary people we are smoke inhalation, but Princella was burned privileged to work with remind us of the over half her body before she got out. Two true value of those efforts. At first glance, Ann Gallagher, an 86-yearold lifelong resident of New Hampshire, and Princella Lee Bridges, a former operating room nurse and Desert Storm veteran from South Carolina, appear to have little in common. But both had single days in their lives that changed them forever. Those days, separated by a half century, recently brought these remarkable women to NFPA, and their stories are powerful reminders of why our mission is so important. Ann was 16 in November, 1942, when her high school boyfriend invited her and her parents to join his family for an excit- 6 NFPA JOURNAL NOVEMBER/dECEMBER 2012 Photograph: dave Yount/NFPA

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - November/December 2012

NFPA Journal - November/December 2012
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Past + Present
Easy Being Green?
Pressure Points
2011 Large-Loss Fires
2011 Firefighter Injuries
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - November/December 2012