Firefighters need more than boxer shorts for surf rescues
March 15, 2015 7:33 AM   Subscribe

Wetsuit donation to SFFD honors man who dreamed of firefighting
The San Francisco firefighters who pull struggling swimmers from the Pacific Ocean were feeling quite toasty Thursday in their brand-new fire-engine-red wetsuits. "This is great," said firefighter Harry Higgins. "I can move my arms. And it’s really well insulated. I don’t have to wear any undies." Like other members of the water rescue unit, Higgins has been obliged to provide his own wetsuit, a cumbersome model designed for surfing and not swimming. On Thursday, the department received 40 hand-sewn, flexible swimmer’s wetsuits — a gift from the family of an aspiring firefighter who wanted to wear one and never did.
The suits were donated by the family foundation of Peter Antonini, a 21-year-old San Franciscan who was about to enter the firefighter training academy when he collapsed and died while jogging on Ocean Beach in 2002. His parents, San Francisco Planning Commissioner Michael Antonini and his wife, Linda, were on the beach to hand over the wetsuits, worth about $300 each.
posted by Lexica (10 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Naw, I just have something in my eye...
posted by twsf at 8:21 AM on March 15, 2015 [2 favorites]


Pray for the dead; fight like hell for the living.

What a tremendously fitting memorial gift from Michael and Linda Antonini.

Five kids and a red truck, and yeah, I'm crying. Lexica -- thank you.
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:14 AM on March 15, 2015 [4 favorites]


What a disgrace that the City of San Francisco does not provide the wetsuits needed to do the job and firefighters had to pay for them before the donation.
posted by mlis at 9:19 AM on March 15, 2015 [12 favorites]


Yeah... can anyone explain why a progressive city with as much wealth flowing through it AND that has a history of large portions actually burning to the ground wouldn't have an aggressively funded fire department?
posted by weston at 11:48 AM on March 15, 2015 [3 favorites]


Yeah... can anyone explain why a progressive city with as much wealth flowing through it AND that has a history of large portions actually burning to the ground wouldn't have an aggressively funded fire department?

Property taxes getting capped by initiative, police hoarding of asset forfeiture funds, and polarization and deadlock in government probably played their parts, but if I had to guess I'd wager it's chiefly a product of humanity's inherent tendency to downplay the possibility of negative events and expect positive outcomes- a sort of pernicious optimism.

I remember that one of my primary duties as a member of the (partially volunteer!) squad serving [a major East Coast tourism site] was going around knocking on doors each spring asking for donations. Our regular budget pretty much only covered maintenance, supplies, and salaries for the paid shifts; any new equipment meant writing a grant application.
posted by fifthrider at 12:44 PM on March 15, 2015


I'm curious to know how "hand sewn" would keep the water out?
posted by infini at 1:03 PM on March 15, 2015


I'm curious to know how "hand sewn" would keep the water out?

Wetsuits aren't supposed to keep water out; they're wetsuits, after all, not drysuits. If anything, they keep water in- that is, they hold a thin layer of water against your skin where it can retain body heat.

That said, there's no reason why you can't hand-sew something water-tight. Space suits, for instance, are usually bespoke tailored to the user. (Although that's more a matter of skilled machine sewing, I guess.)
posted by fifthrider at 1:13 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


Getting Yaypril going a couple weeks early. What a nice story!
posted by themanwho at 1:45 PM on March 15, 2015


I'm curious to know how "hand sewn" would keep the water out?

I think I'm more unclear on why they went with hand-sewn, when there are zillions of brands of swimming wetsuits out there (some retailing for less than $300) that are insulated and allow for a full range of movement.

It's a very sweet gesture on the part of the family and it's ridiculous that my city doesn't provide its rescue teams with proper equipment, but man... that's a big chunk of change for the Planning Commissioner.
posted by psoas at 10:41 AM on March 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Thank you fifthrider and psoas, yeah that does seem odd
posted by infini at 2:27 PM on March 17, 2015


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