United Through Service: South Carolina Firefighters Take Care of Their Own

It’s been more than a decade now, but it’s impossible to forget.

In early October 2015, torrential rain brought historic flooding across South Carolina. In some areas, more than 20 inches fell in a matter of days. The water poured from the sky down to the earth until the ground could no longer hold it. So the water went wherever it could. 

Into homes and businesses. Across roads and bridges. Through entire communities.

More than 20,000 South Carolinians were displaced, and emergency crews carried out more than 1,500 water rescues.

Throughout the region, firefighters did what firefighters do. They went to work. 

Clearing paths. Rescuing. Recovering.

For some of them, there was just one problem.

Their homes were flooding, too.

As those firefighters continued to answer calls, they were delaying the inevitable: dealing with the damage waiting for them at home.

Moments like these are why the South Carolina Firefighters Foundation exists. The organization provided assistance to more than a dozen firefighters directly affected by the flooding.

“We always say we’re there to serve the community,” said foundation chairman and Gaffney Fire Chief Jamie Caggiano, “but someone needs to be there to serve those firefighters, too, in their time of need.”

So this October, Fire Department Coffee is proud to help ensure that the foundation will be there when the next moment of truth arrives. Throughout the month, we’re directing $2 from every Fire Department Coffee Club purchase or subscription and $5 from every Fire Department Shirt Club purchase or subscription to support the South Carolina Firefighters Foundation across the state.

Ready for Whatever Tomorrow Brings

The SCSFF was conceived and created in the summer of 2001 and is administered by the South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association, which itself traces its roots back to 1905 in the Palmetto State.

The goal, at that moment, was to create an organization that could raise money to serve local firefighters in need, much as its mission remains today. Of course, a few short months later, the attacks of September 11 led to unspeakable tragedy for our nation — and firefighters and their families were left to carry the scars.

Through the new foundation, South Carolina firefighters raised roughly $1 million to support the families of firefighters killed in the terror attacks. It was an incredible act of unity and generosity, and it’s one that continues to define the foundation’s mission today, even as it primarily directs its support a little closer to home.

Today, seven volunteer board members oversee an organization with wide-ranging goals.

Its largest area of support is benevolence — providing financial assistance to firefighters and their families facing circumstances beyond their control. Over the past year, Caggiano said the foundation has distributed roughly $25,000 in benevolence checks, typically ranging between $100 and $1,500 per payment.

The circumstances behind those checks are rarely the same.

In one recent case, the wife of an upstate South Carolina firefighter had to relocate to Charleston during a high-risk pregnancy. With his wife unable to work, the support helped the firefighter maintain their household at home while also supporting her stay in Charleston.

In another instance, the foundation helped a firefighter who became paraplegic after an accident by installing fire sprinklers throughout her home so she could feel safer living there.

Often — perhaps most often — the firefighters who receive the assistance aren’t the firefighters who reached out asking for it. 

“Firefighters are a different breed,” Caggiano said. “They don’t like asking for help, and most of the time they don’t. Usually, it’s a fire chief or a fellow firefighter who requests that we come in and help. These guys don’t even know until we present them with a check.”

The foundation has also created an avenue for departments and families to raise money for specific needs without relying on outside crowdfunding platforms that take a portion of donations for their own administrative purposes. Those efforts have made it possible to maximize support for firefighters injured in the line of duty or families facing serious illness and to create memorial scholarship funds.

As for the money raised through October’s Coffee and Shirt Club collaborations, Caggiano says candidly that he doesn’t yet know specifically how the funds will help South Carolina’s firefighters. He just knows that they will help.

“We never know what tomorrow brings,” he said.

Giving Back Takes Many Forms

Benevolence may be the most important part of the foundation’s work, but it’s not all that the organization does. Not by a long shot.

Through its Children’s Burn Fund, the foundation lifts up children who have suffered serious burns, helping meet the needs of the children and their families. That could mean anything from extending extra cash for groceries and utility bills to whisking the kids away for a fun-filled week at picturesque Camp Cole just outside of the state capital, Columbia.

This year, more than 25 young burn victims attended the camp. They swam, fished, played basketball, and simply enjoyed spending time with other kids who have experienced similar injuries.

The foundation also helps fund South Carolina’s Firefighter Assistance and Support Team, or FAST, which helps provide professional support to firefighters confronting post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges. 

Together, these initiatives reflect a foundation that takes care of its own — and takes care of its communities.

United Through Service

The firefighters of South Carolina are fully united in their commitment to the job and to making their communities better, safer places for everyone.

That spirit inspired the headline “United Through Service” that graces every Fire Department Coffee Club bag. In October, each bag holds an exclusive medium roast crafted with beans from Venezuela and Costa Rica, featuring notes of red apple, lemon, and dark chocolate. You’ll also see the “United Through Service” design on this month’s Fire Department Shirt Club offering.

A close look at the design suggests that these firefighters might, occasionally, be “united through rivalry.”

The great divide between two big rival universities — and their fiercely loyal fanbases — is one aspect of life in the state that you simply can’t avoid. That’s why this month’s design features both a tiger and a gamecock, standing in full turnout gear. 

Behind them, the Blue Ridge Mountains meet the Atlantic shoreline, representing a foundation serving firefighters from one end of the state to the other.

“We really wanted to bring in those two things because we serve from the mountains to the coast,” Caggiano said. “And then we all serve together, whether we’re a Clemson fan or a Carolina fan.”

For the record, Caggiano graduated from Clemson back in the 90s. Huge Tigers fan.

When the rival universities square off on the gridiron November 28, all bets are off.

But for Caggiano and every other firefighter across the state, when the next call comes in, they are all United By Service.