Standing with Frederick County, Maryland Firefighters and Their Families

The captain was getting ready to go inside.

A fire on a Friday afternoon in mid-March had spread into the shared attic of an apartment building in Frederick, Maryland. On a landing outside, the truck company captain knelt to put on his mask before entering to search for anyone still inside.

In that instant, the roof collapsed above him.

With his helmet off and his hood pulled back as he masked up, the captain suffered second- and third-degree burns to his head, neck, and hands. Later, someone found his leather helmet crushed where the captain had set it down.

Next came weeks in a Baltimore burn center. The captain’s family faced endless trips back and forth, time away from home, and the uncertainty that comes with seeing someone you love seriously injured.

His fellow firefighters couldn’t take away the injuries, couldn’t take away the pain. But they could make sure his family had somewhere to stay. Gas for the drive. Food while they waited.

Through the Frederick County Career Firefighters Benevolent Fund, they helped cover those needs so the captain and his family could concentrate on his recovery.

For firefighter Charles Tippett, the goal was simple: take care of their brother and his family until the day that he could return to the job, taking care of his community.

This November, Fire Department Coffee is proud to support Frederick County Professional Firefighters — and the benevolent fund that helps them take care of their own. 

Throughout the month, $2 from every Fire Department Coffee Club purchase or subscription and $5 from every Fire Department Shirt Club purchase or subscription will support the fund, helping ensure assistance is ready when the next firefighter needs it.

Lifting Up the Fire Service Family

The benevolent fund grew from a recognition that firefighters facing cancer and other serious hardships needed an organized source of financial help. Treatment might take them away from home. Their families might need help making ends meet. Injury or an unexpected loss always brings expenses nobody planned for.

The fund gives firefighters a way to support their brothers and sisters.

The injured captain’s recovery shows what that means in practice. While he received treatment, his fellow firefighters arranged hotel stays, gas cards, and food for his family. The support made it possible for them to take care of the everyday needs that continue even when everything else has changed.

More recently, the department rallied around a member after the unexpected loss of his young son, not quite 2 years old. Firefighters organized meals for the family, and the association began working to help with funeral expenses.

In this case, and in others, the support begins before someone even thinks to ask.

“We truly believe that even if you don’t ask for help,” Tippett said, “we want to be there for you in any way we can.”

Ready for the Next Who Needs Help

The money raised through November’s collaboration will replenish the benevolent fund for future needs. Wish as they may that similar situations might never arise again, all know they will.

So members contribute. Special fundraisers bring in additional support. The Key City Fire Conference, started by firefighters from the department, also directs proceeds to the benevolent fund.

Fire Department Coffee is honored to join this chain of support.

Together, these efforts mean the next emergency doesn’t have to be followed by a scramble to figure out how to help. When assistance arrives, it comes with no expectation that the kindness should be repaid. Perhaps paid forward, in better days of the future.

“This is not a loan,” Tippett said of the message given to those receiving support. “You owe us nothing from this. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do to help you.”

He wants everyone who subscribes or purchases from the Fire Department Coffee Club or Shirt Club in November to understand that this is a gift. It’s a gift that they are helping deliver to the firefighters who serve Frederick County so selflessly — and to their families who make their service possible.

A Skyline That Feels Like Home

Frederick County’s firefighters serve a uniquely beautiful community.

There are the older buildings and row homes of downtown Frederick. Rural communities and mountain foothills. Flowing through the county is the Monocacy River, a scenic waterway that can sometimes prompt calls for swift water rescue.

“We have the urban areas. We have the rural areas,” Tippett said. “We have a little bit of everything.”

But one familiar view inspired the artwork for November’s collaboration. The downtown Frederick skyline is famous for its distinctive church steeples, so picturesque that local law forbids any new building tall enough to obscure the views.

Frederick is known as the “Key City,” a nod to its most famous historical resident, Francis Scott Key, who penned the words to the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Along with the iconic skyline, the design showcased on this month’s shirt and custom coffee bag features a pair of firefighter hands holding a heart-shaped locket, stylized with Maryland’s distinctive state flag with the key inserted. The headline reads “The Heart of Key City.”

So when you’re wearing the shirt or enjoying November’s Coffee Club roast — a premium blend that

includes coffee beans from Guatemala, featuring notes of crisp apple and dark chocolate — you’ll be supporting these firefighters, the beating heart of this city and this county.

Every time you pull on the shirt or pour a cup, you’re making it possible for someone to manage perhaps the toughest days of their lives. Maybe it’s something simple, a meal or a place for their family to sleep.

Whatever that looks like, you can know that by supporting the Fire Department Coffee Club or Fire Department Shirt Club in November, you’re opening your own heart to someone who needs that love and support.