In today’s episode of the Dust Safety Science podcast, Jake LaFerriere, founder and Executive Director of Firefighters for Healing, talks about the history of the organization, which is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and outlines the exciting initiatives and projects that the group is involved with today.
Jake, who followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Minneapolis firefighter, says that for him, a pivotal event occurred on July 30, 2010. He and his fellow firefighters were dispatched to an address on 17th Avenue Southeast, where they found a three-story house with smoke pouring from the eaves but no visible fire. Upon carrying out a thorough search, they found the seat of the fire on the third floor, behind a wall.
“Within the wall was a popping, like a campfire. So, at this point, we radioed down for Engine 11,” Jake says.
As soon as he heard Engine 11 make it up to the third floor, Jake took his axe and breached the wall. What happened, he says, was like something out of the movie Backdraft.
The Explosion Blew Jake 11 Feet Away and Lifted the House From Its Foundation.
“The fire got introduced to oxygen. So basically what happened was like a bomb that went off,” he says. “There was containment, ignition and fuel, and it got that introduction to oxygen. So it was really a bomb that detonated. It blew me 11 feet one way and then blew my captain the other way. The house was lifted out of its foundation by the force of the explosion, which also lifted up its roof.”
What followed next was a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall fire. The engine company with the water was knocked down the stairs, so there was no water. Jake crawled over to a window, his entire body on fire, broke it with his left hand, and jumped out. Fortunately, there was a porch overhang that broke his fall, or he would have been killed.
The incident left Jake with severe burns and a broken foot. He spent weeks in a burn unit at the hospital and had to undergo multiple skin grafts. He was depressed and contemplating his future when two small boys were admitted in the room next to his. One of them had been playing with a lighter in a tent, and the resulting fire left both of them with burns covering 40% of their bodies.
“When they wheeled them in, instantaneously my perspective went from being inward to outwards,” Jake recalls. “I [wanted to live], to keep fighting through this and heal.”
Jake Knew That His Next Mission Was Advocating for Burn Victims.
The community came together when it learned about the injuries that Jake and his captain had suffered. An event was held in downtown Minneapolis, which he managed to attend in a wheelchair. Although he was grateful for the support, all Jake could think about was those two small boys and how no one was advocating for them. He and his colleague donated $5,000 of the money raised for them to send some children out to a burn care unit in Colorado.
“In essence, Firefighters for Healing was born at that moment,” he says.
Jake attempted to return to firefighting, but his injuries proved to be a liability for him.
“I had to leave my childhood dream and I had to leave that passion of mine. And it was one of the worst things I’ve ever had to go through in my life.
“When our fire investigators did their report for OSHA and whatnot, they decided that this is in the millions that this could have happened. A backdraft in itself, right? It’s like a dust explosion. They’re very rare. I think, “‘ding and landing on a porch too?’ So it was like I was a winning lottery ticket just to survive this experience.”
After a period of grieving, Jake found a new purpose: advocating for burn victims. He started out by supporting raffles, silent auctions, and other fundraising events for the burn community. Then he and other firefighters involved in these initiatives were put forward for the Red Bandana Hero Award, which was presented by the American Heroes Channel and Discovery Network. It’s named after a man named Welles, who saved 12 people from the South Tower during 9-11 and stood out visually because of his red bandana.
When Jake and his colleagues won the award and received it in front of 60,000 people at Boston College, word of their mission spread and Firefighters in Healing grew, seemingly overnight.
“I went from losing a purpose (serving our community as a civil servant like my dad) to becoming a heart of philanthropy for Firefighters for Healing. It really just grew.”
One person Jake worked with directly was Kyle Flicker, who was injured in a rubber dust explosion in 2016. He visited Kyle at the hospital after the latter came out of a medically-induced coma, spent time with him, shared his own experiences, and helped him renew his will to live.
“That’s in essence what [Firefighters in Healing] does,” Jake explains. “We’re boots on the ground in the hospital and we’re visiting patients. [Kyle] had a heart of gratitude through this whole experience and wanted to give back too and do a pay-it-forward kind of thing. So now he’s gotten involved with our organization, and he actually sponsored a room in our new building.”
Jake believes that healing occurs when people come together and support each other in their struggles. When he looks back at the get-well cards he received during his own recovery, he feels the positive energy they represent.
Firefighters for Healing Operates a Camp and a Healing Centre.
Firefighters for Healing started packing up four fire rigs with gifts at Christmas and bringing what Jake calls “excitement, hope, love, healing into the Burn Unit.” Then they started partnering with different airlines to send patients to a special burn treatment centre in Colorado. Five years ago, they finally launched Camp RED, which stands for ‘Realize Every Dream.’ However, the journey was far from over.
Today, Firefighters for Healing operates a Healing Center, the first of its kind in North America. This transitional center provides meals, transportation, accommodations, toys, gift cards, camp scholarships and other services intended to support burn victims and their families.
It’s going to be a really big piece of our legacy that we leave here long after we’re gone, and we’re just super excited about it,” Jake says.
Conclusion
Jake encourages anyone interested in learning more about Firefighters for Healing to visit the organization website.
“We also always need people who have networks. That’s what this business and philanthropy is all about – it’s just connecting with people that have the resources and it aligns with their mission. That’s good.”
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Jake LaFerriere directly:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakelaferriere/
Website: https://firefightersforhealing.org/
If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community’ page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.
Resources mentioned
Dust Safety Science
Combustible Dust Incident Database
Dust Safety Science Podcast
Questions from the Community
Dust Safety Academy
Dust Safety Professionals
Organizations
Firefighters for Healing
Firefighters for Healing – Healing Center
Camp RED (Realize Every Dream)
Videos
The Danger of Dust: How Small Particles Can Cause Big Problems
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