Our mission is to provide fire departments in need with safety training and personal life safety systems.
One day every firefighter will have the training and equipment
to safely escape a fire.
The Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation believes that firefighters can’t save lives if they can’t save themselves. Too often firefighters become trapped unexpectedly due to collapse, flashover, backdraft or more and need to get out FAST. Sometimes the only way out is a window. Our organization knows this all too well – founded by people directly impacted by the FDNY “Black Sunday” where 3 firefighters lost their lives and 3 suffered life-changing injuries – all because they had no way out but a 5th story window.
That’s why we are committed to providing personal safety systems and training to fire departments in need. We achieve this by awarding grants for personal safety bailout systems for firefighters, and offering seminars taught by world class instructors. We hope there’s a day where every firefighter has a way out. And no family, department or community suffers the devastating impact of another “Black Sunday.”
You can help make this happen – Donate Today!
What’s New
Photos from the 2016 Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation Seminar
» View Photos from the 2016 Seminar «
- Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation Participates in the First Annual Denis Leary FDNY Firefighter Challenge - On May 4, 2017, Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation Board members teamed up with celebrities to support the First Annual Denis Leary Firefighter Challenge.
- Firefighter Jeff Cool Is Keeping Tradition Alive - FDNY Firefighter Jeff Cool, survivor of the Black Sunday fire in the Bronx, who travels around the country sharing his story, delivered the keynote address during the Keeping Tradition Alive symposium.
- A PSS deployed at yesterday’s 7-alarm fire in Queens - "I've been a Firefighter for 13 years and this is the first time I've deployed the P.S.S., but all of the training that we do kicked in. I knew exactly what to do and I felt confident."
- Sale of New Self-Rescue Device Benefits the Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation - Sterling Rope announced on March 1, 2017 via its Facebook page that it would be donating $1 from the sale of new FCX self-rescue device to the Lt. Joseph P. DiBernardo Memorial Foundation.
- Retired firefighter offers to buy safety gear for ‘Suicide Squad’ - The lack of safety gear for the Port Authority's Suicide Prevention Team outraged retired FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph DiBernardo so much that he told The News he’d pay for the harnesses out of his own pocket.
