Volunteer of the Year: a Firefighter Who Saves People and Precious Keepsakes
Published: June 10, 2005
Most people admire firefighters for rushing into burning buildings to save lives and lead others from smoke to safety. For CIGNA employee Kevin Richart, though, being a hometown hero also means saving memories from going up in flames. For all his contributions to save people and their precious keepsakes, CIGNA Corporation today announced Richart as its 2004 Volunteer of the Year.
As a volunteer firefighter for the past 12 years, Richart has been with the Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1 for four years and responded to more than 200 fire calls in 2004. In every case, no lives were lost, and countless pieces of people’s lives were saved and salvaged in the form of family photos, treasured knick-knacks and refrigerator art.
“When I think of what’s most rewarding about the job, of course I think about saving lives. But a firefighter is also committed to saving property - and not necessarily the furniture, appliances and clothes - but the keepsakes that hold people’s memories,” said Richart, a resident of Upper Dublin Township.
In the heat of a fire, Richart remains sensitive to how people feel about their cherished possessions. Once people are safe, he makes every effort to quickly sweep up belongings like the picture a kindergartener drew and taped to the refrigerator, or a family photo album, or a jewelry box. “I focus on rescuing those things that can’t be replaced because they hold a lifetime of memories,” said Richart, who works as an application developer in CIGNA Information Technology.
Richart also serves as the fire company treasurer, managing the company’s annual operating budget, and had a fleeting movie career last year as an extra in “Ladder 49,” the firefighting movie that was filmed in Baltimore and starred John Travolta.
“CIGNA is honored to recognize Kevin’s courageous volunteer work, which embodies the best qualities in CIGNA’s people and in CIGNA’s commitment to supporting our employees as they improve the communities in which they live and work. We’re grateful to him as a volunteer and CIGNA employee,” said H. Edward Hanway, CIGNA’s chairman and chief executive officer, who spoke at a recognition ceremony today for Richart.
As CIGNA Volunteer of the Year, Richart received $2,500 from the CIGNA Foundation, with an additional $2,500 grant given to Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1.
The Points of Light Foundation, founded by former President George H.W. Bush, selected Richart as CIGNA’s Volunteer of the Year. The Foundation’s mission is to promote corporate volunteerism and is used as an independent decision-maker to choose CIGNA’s Volunteer of the Year.
While he appreciates the admiration of family, neighbors and co-workers, Richart is quick to point out the importance of two less dramatic aspects of firefighting: recruiting and prevention.
“The challenges in recruiting firefighters are emotional as well as physical,” Richart said, noting that the minimum amount of training for new volunteers is 200 hours. “Most suburban communities in Pennsylvania don’t employ paid or career firefighters and rely on volunteers to prevent loss of life and property. A fire company needs a steady influx of volunteers to maintain minimum resources to provide these emergency services,” Richart said.
Richart’s fire company, which has served residents of Upper Dublin and Montgomery County since 1908, began an innovative program in area high schools 20 years ago to recruit students as firefighters. Firefighters carry on the tradition by working with schools to offer any student who joins the fire company the opportunity to leave school for fire emergencies as long as they maintain good grades. Currently, 11 junior firefighters with a “B” grade average or better are members of the fire company. The program also provides an annual college scholarship to firefighting youth who want to continue their education.
To prevent fires, Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1 stages campaigns all year long. Firefighters attracted 3,000 people to their event at the Fort Washington Expo Center during Fire Prevention Week in October 2004, an overwhelming turnout that reached a significant number of the 9,000 households and businesses protected by the fire company.
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