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August 27, 2020

Wildfire Shirts Commemorate Firefighter Bravery

Apparel decorators design and print the tees and sell them to firefighters near the sites of the big blazes.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Firefighter Dave Stark has fought some of the biggest wildfires in California history. And when the 61-year-old fire captain puts his life on the line to battle the blazes, he likes to buy special graphic T-shirts themed around each particular fire to commemorate the experience and remember where he’s been and firefighters with whom he’s served. He reckons that he has more than 100 such shirts.

“I buy one at every fire I’ve been on. I’ve got a pretty good collection of them,” Stark told The Mercury News. “One of my favorites is the Carr Fire. Worst fire I’ve ever been on, but they’ve got some gorgeous shirts.”

Firefighter t-shirt

Scott Dennison of Zephyr Pacific Sportswear created these shirts for firefighters battling wildfires in Northern California this month.

It turns out Stark isn’t alone in his desire for commemorative wildfire-themed screen-printed shirts. Firefighters buy them up by the bushel – something they’re again doing in California this week as they attempt to put down the second largest wildfire in the Golden State’s history and other blazes that are collectively scorching hundreds of thousands of acres.

There to meet the T-shirt demand are apparel decorators like Scott Dennison, owner of Petaluma, CA-based screen printing/embroidery shop Zephyr Pacific Sportswear. Dennison, and other decorators, travel to sites where firefighters are staged while fighting the blazes. They come with T-shirts they’ve designed and printed with graphics and messaging specific to the fire. Once in the area, they set up temporary selling spots and retail their shirts to flame-fighting heroes.

“Firefighting is a true brotherhood,” Dennison told Counselor. “When a firefighter wears one of these shirts and another firefighter who was on the same fire sees it, then it’s an instant conversation starter and they have a bond. The shirts are a badge of courage that shows what they’ve done and where they’ve been.”

Dennison was in the Napa County town of Calistoga, CA this week selling T-shirts Zephyr designed and printed. It’s something his business has done for going on 15 years. He got the idea from a firefighter friend who always comes back from fires with T-shirts and who encouraged Dennison to start selling such apparel.

“It’s not a big part of my business by any means, but it’s interesting to be part of,” says Dennison, who’s mainstay markets include schools, sports and events. “It’s a pleasure to serve the firefighters and provide them with something they value.”

Over the years, Dennison has sometimes traveled hundreds of miles to sell shirts at fire sites – for instance heading from his northern California base of operations south to set up temporary shop at blazes in the Los Angeles area. This time around, the worst of the fires have very much been in his neck of the woods in Sonoma County.

“It’s always a little roll of the dice,” says Dennison of the firefighter T-shirt sales. “You do the design, print up the shirts, pack them up and hope you can sell them.”

Admittedly, some people might take issue with the selling of shirts tied to harrowing events that claim lives and destroy landscapes, homes and buildings. However, a counterpoint to that perspective, proponents say, is that the firefighters themselves – the people risking their lives to combat the carnage – want the shirts as a means to remember the sacrifices made … similar to how a military veteran might wear a hat that calls attention to an overseas deployment they were on. “It’s an honor for them to show the fires they’ve fought,” Dennison told Counselor.

Furthermore, Dennison often includes a charitable component in his shirt sales. This time around, for instance, he is considering donating a portion of the proceeds to the family of a helicopter pilot who died las week in operations related to the Hills Fire in Fresno County. Dennison plans to make a donation even though his own business is down about 80% year over year as a result of the economic devastation caused by COVID-19.

And for certain, there’s real demand for the shirts among firefighters. Some like to get the apparel for family members, like spouses and children. Dennison noted that some firefighters have so many shirts that they’ve had them sewn into quilts. “It’s something they can hang on the wall and remember their service,” Dennison says.

Matt Walker, a 21-year-old firefighter battling the LNU Lightning Complex Fire in northern California, told The Mercury News he was eager to get his first wildfire shirt.

“It’s something to say you were there,” Walker said. “It’s really cool to be able to wear it and you run into people and you can say, ‘Hey, you were on that fire? I was on that fire.’ ”

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