The Katie Couric show on Tuesday did something surprising. Not only did they interview three wives whose husbands were members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots killed on the Yarnell Hill Fire June 30, but they publicized efforts to donate large sums of money to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. The WFF assists firefighters that have been injured on wildland fires and the families of firefighters who have been killed. It is a wonderful organization that does great things for the wildland firefighter community.

In this first video Katie talks to the three wives.

Then three members of the Fire Department of New York mention how wildland firefighters helped them out by sending Incident Management Teams to assist them after they suffered the attacks on the World Trade center on 9/11. I have seen folks from the FDNY mention this several times — they talk about paying back the wildland fire community and “paying it forward”. They lost 341 firefighters and two paramedics on 9/11.

The FDNY has already raised $50,000 for the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, and on the show the brother of deceased firefighter Patrick Joyce, who runs a foundation in his honor, announced the organization was donating $10,000 to the WFF. Then Katie produced a second large check for the same amount contributed by the Safeway Foundation.

And it didn’t stop there. One of the FDNY gentlemen said they are hoping to get every firefighter in the country to donate $10 each to the WFF. If that happens, $10 million would be raised.

If you have not already, join the WFF’s 52 Club, which means you have donated the equivalent of $1 a week for a year.

Thanks go out to Angie