Local 2625 would like to congratulate Lieutenant Dale Kyrouac for being selected as the City of Collinsville's Employee of the Month for April. 

Dale was nominated for the award by his fellow members on B-Shift.  Congratulations Brother Kyrouac!

Pictured L-R are members of the B-Shift crew at House #1:   Captain Dusty Katich, FF Jerry Brickeen, Kyrouac, FF Mike Gafford, and FF Matt Giles.

From Chief Billy Goldfeder's "Secret List" e-mail....Keep in mind that AIG holds 457 accounts for several of our members.....

And then this "new" issue related to FIREFIGHTERS who have been killed in the Line of Duty, came out....a disgusting issue related to AIG. Even as AIG takes billions in bailout money and begs for billions more, AIG is FIGHTING against paying a multimillion-dollar wrongful death award to the families of 2 fallen FDNY Firefighters.

We are talking about the 1998 Brooklyn fire that killed Lt. Joseph Cavalieri and FF's James Bohan and Christopher Bopp. More than 10 years after that fatal fire and more than 2 years after the trial, AIG continues to appeal a civil court jury's unanimous verdict in the Line of Duty Deaths of FDNY Lt. Joseph Cavalieri and Firefighter Christopher Bopp. The verdict ordering the payment to the surviving fire families. Cavalieri was married with two daughters, ages 19 and 11. Bopp was also married, and his wife was two months pregnant when he died. A.I.G. could care less. It's all about them.

READ about the fire and the 3 FF's killed here:
http://www.chiefmontagna.com/memorial/memorial.htm
HERE is the NIOSH report:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face9901.html

FF Bohan, FF Bopp, and Lt Cavalieri were killed while operating at a residential high-rise structure fire. As they went to the tenth floor to search for victims, they were overcome by a wave of heat and smoke that killed all 3. The automatic closing device on the apartment door had been removed or had malfunctioned. The building's hallway sprinklers did not activate due to a closed valve. Six firefighters were injured in the fire and Bohan, Bopp and Cavalieri were killed in the Line of Duty.

And now....AIG simply REFUSES to pay them. Actually, they just don't wanna. AIG is the same insurance company that made headlines last Fall for spending on a lavish spa retreat after receiving federal bailout funds. They can afford to. They just don't wanna. And it's not like it's "their" money...much of it is yours-the taxpayer. They ask for tax dollars to bail them out...but then they deprive the families of heroic firefighters money, money that is rightfully the families.

AIG doing the right thing?...that would be silly old school thinking.  AIG could have done the right thing. It instead decided to go to trial but it showed the same lack of brains, heart and crazy levels of arrogance that would cause it to lose billions in investments.

Here are more facts:
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/02/25/2009-02-25_aig_whines_for_bailout_money_as_it_stall.html

A report came out this week related to the FEMA-sponsored study of firefighters aged 40 and over conducted by Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta. They released the preliminary findings in the world's first study of first responders at risk of suffering sudden death or other significant cardiac events...and the news is that Firefighters are known to have a three hundred percent (300%) increased risk for cardiac disease as compared to other segments of the population.

"Preliminary findings show that 1/3 of firefighters had heart disease that is unrelated to traditional risk factors, such as high cholesterol," says Dr. Superko. "Those results are astounding and point at job duties and environment as the primary determinants for early death in our country's first responders."
Here are the details: http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-hospitals/20090317/CL8510617032009-1.html

...and here is some previous related info:

http://www.stjosephsatlanta.org/news/02-24-09-Saint-Josephs-conducts-screenings-first-responders.html

Some Firefighter Heart Disease PREVENTION links:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2007-133/

http://iaff.org/hs/index.htm

http://www.iafcsafety.org/

A new study found that firefighters are more likely than their peers in other professions to have prematurely narrowed arteries, which increases their risk of heart attacks and strokes.

22 percent of a group of 77 firefighters studied by researchers at the University of Kansas averaged 39 years old but had the blood vessels of 52-year-olds because of significant plaque buildup in their carotid arteries.

Background information in this study noted that cardiovascular disease has been associated with 45 percent of the on-duty deaths of firefighters in the United States, compared with 36 percent for other lines of work. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has reported that sudden cardiac deaths are the leading cause of death in the line of duty for firefighters.

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