Brave Are the Fallen (2020) - full transcript

- They pulled out, and
sirens going like crazy,

and the medic fan was
right in front of me,

and I don't know what made me do it,

but I stepped to the side,

and he was like three
feet between the wall,

and the van,

and as I looked out,

this way to get a glimpse
of him as he drove past,

I went like that.

I don't know why, but he did
the same thing as he went by,

and it was like a second,



but it felt like a lot longer
than that to see him connect,

you know, that he wanted
to see us as he went past.

Anyway, that was like three days,

I think before he passed away.

He led his crew by example,

A Fireman's fireman, just a man's man.

Just a great guy.

Tom was one of those,

in my opinion, a rare individual.

He's probably
in the top 5% of captains.

A firefighter is a rescuer,

extensively trained to fight
fires that threaten life,

property, and the environment,
as well as rescuing people,

and animals from dangerous situations.



It is one of the most difficult,

and heroic professions in the world.

It takes a very special kind of person

to put their life on the
line on a daily basis,

in a profession where one
misstep can lead to tragedy.

- I was really tired from working,

and I had been doing laundry,
and we had dinner, and all.

I think I fell asleep on the
couch for a little while,

and I woke up about nine o'clock,

and the TV was on, and I looked at it,

and they were talking
about an Orange County,

fire authority captain,

and they showed him being
loaded onto the helicopter.

- The chief came, and I think my mom,

and sister were standing there.

- It was the day before
my sister's 18th birthday,

which was just terrible timing,

something that has to follow her around

for the rest of her life, you know?

- He left That morning, and
I remember hearing him leave,

and my mom would always joke
that he would forget something

so he'd always have to come back in,

and I remember standing in the bathroom

and thinking that I needed to hug him,

and tell him that I love him.

That's like almost an overwhelming
feeling, and I didn't.

I told myself I was being silly,

and then I would see him later.

Born Thomas
Oscar Wall on August 15th,

1954 in Oceanside, California.

At the age of 15, he met
the love of his life.

Christine Whitley from nearby Tustin High.

Chris said she chose Tom, because
he was such a patient guy.

He was very gentle,

and was always concerned
about what she thought.

He made her feel secure.

On June 8th, 1974 they were married.

- Tom's family went to the
same church that I did,

and I kind of watched Tom grow up,

and so that's where I remember Tom,

and Chris and Tom became interested

at that time in each
other, and were dating,

and I can't remember exactly
when they came to me,

and wanted to, or came to, you know,

my wife, and I, and asked
about marrying my daughter,

and we you know, gave our permission,

and blessed them, you know,

come take my daughter for his bride,

and they had three children

during the time that they were together.

Firefighting
is a risky career,

requiring courage to face danger,

and trauma stricken civilians.

It requires quick thinking
as well as physical,

and mental strength.

The number one reason most
firemen pursue such a career

comes of a burning desire
to help, and serve others.

The willingness to take that
risk to save someone else

on a daily basis is truly the nature

of someone with a servant's heart.

Tom Wall started his quest for a position

in the fire service at the age of 21.

After getting his fire science degree

from Santa Ana college in 1974,

Tom began working for the
California Department of Forestry

as a seasonal firefighter at Station 15

in the canyons of Orange County,

where Chris would drive up to the station

to visit him during
his 120 hour work week.

He was the only married
man besides the captain.

During these months,

Chris became pregnant
with their first son, Ian.

- He was a father, obviously.

He was a firefighter.

I think a lot of people

would describe him as a patient and stoic.

- He was a kind, and gentle person.

- He was someone who looked the part

of an individual who could,

I mean, just command a
presence in the room,

because of his size,

and because of the way
he talked with people,

but he wanted to be in the background.

It was, I guess those humble
qualities that made people

just gravitate toward him.

- He would comment when we'd see some,

a fire on the news, and if
there were firemen hurt,

he would tell me, you know,

like I would never send them as a captain,

I would never send my
crew into that building

when it looked that way.

They were more important
than the building,

or someone else's property.

- I just remember how he talked to people.

It wasn't so much that it
was something that was,

I don't know, a signature thing
that he did that I remember.

He just, the way he talked with people,

made them feel important,
made them feel cared for,

made them feel like that they were worthy,

and with a number of people here

that were in some ways hurt, or broken,

or in needing of repair and of just,

I don't know, being
restored in their spirit,

that was Tom's greatest service to people.

He made them feel like
that they were something,

and it was a beautiful thing.

More than
half of firefighters

in the U.S. are married,

and finding a balance between
their long work hours,

and their time with their
families is not an easy task,

but being the child of a
firefighter does have its benefits.

- I remember like a few times,

he would drive the firetruck to our house.

- The whole neighborhood.

They would come out, and
climb all over the truck,

and stuff like that.

So it was like my dad drove a
jungle gym, you know, like...

- You know, all the kids would come out,

and like check it out, and whenever,

and I, I remember feeling
like proud, you know,

like my dad drives this
truck, you know what I mean?

Pretty cool.

- I think my favorite part
was probably getting up,

and pretending to be the engineer,

because I liked the horn,

and so I would get up there,

and pretend I was driving.

- I just remember them being like fun,

like a fun time, a happy time.

- We always liked trying
on their like uniform,

because it was always like a lot heavier

than you think it is.

When you're five, it's like
you fall over in it, you know?

So, I don't know.

You're just always happy to see him,

because it's like you get like this time

where they're like away,

and then when they come
home you're like, yay!

You know, you get like really excited.

A firefighter's
job is one of the toughest,

and most hazardous occupations there is.

However, curiously thousands of brave men,

and women line up every year

for the chance to feel what it's like

to jump into an inferno

with only their courage, and training.

So what kind of person does
it take to be a firefighter?

- It's not a good profession to try to do

when you're scared.

You got to keep your wits about you,

- I knew he had a dangerous job,

but he also didn't always,

it wasn't until like, he
didn't really talk about it,

especially when we were young.

He didn't really talk about
the dangers of it necessarily,

or that he was ever in eminent danger.

It was always like he's helping people.

- He was surrounded by people

who all wanted to be safe, also.

That was their job to make
sure others were safe,

and they did a lot of training,

and he was doing good work.

I didn't worry about him,

I just knew he was doing his job,

and he was well trained.

- You know, as dangerous as the job seems,

to us, when you're trained like that,

and you have the equipment that we have,

it mitigates the risks a lot,

and it doesn't seem quite as scary.

- And the last time I went to the station,

I took my youngest son
Joel, and he was 15,

and there was another young man at church,

Tim Kercheval who was about 16, I think,

but Tim had not kind
of the station with us.

So we went over there, and you know,

it's kind of fun that
your dad's a fireman,

and walking around in there.

- I just remember it being fun,

and like it was cool to like

see my dad with other firefighters.

You know, we've got to know
some of them pretty well,

and kind of became like a family friends.

- To kinda sum him up,

he's probably in the top 5% of captains.

Maybe even a little higher.

In 1980 Tom
was promoted to engineer,

serving at Stations 36, and 37,

as well as the hazmat unit at Station 4.

- I was a new firefighter.

I was trying to establish my career

and what career path I wanted to take.

I wanted to go to medical school.

That's why I transferred in with Tom,

and he helped me get through that process.

Even when we were busy,

we were running 30/35
calls a day at the time.

He always helped me, even when
we made mistakes as a rookie.

- Tom never seemed to forget anything.

Well, you would come on the next morning,

and he'd have a whole list of things

on how his shift went for you,

and problems that we may
encounter the next day,

and just trying to avert
problems for everybody,

which was really good.

- He didn't always work
at the same station.

He would like move around.

It was cool to see the
different firehouses.

Orange County
has one of the most rigorous,

and diverse training
programs in the country.

- We were fortunate enough to work for

one of the best
departments in the country,

and in the world probably.

- They got a call, and we
were ready to leave anyway,

I had asked, you know, alarm?

And everything's going off,

and so Tom's like, I gotta go,

gives us a kiss goodbye, and I said,

should we sneak out the front?

Or he said,

just go through the station
now so it'll be fine,

and he went over to get
into the captain seat,

and it was like, look at
that, my husband's a fireman.

You know, sometimes it hits
you, you know they are,

but like, that's really cool.

Isn't it?

Of course, not
every call is life threatening.

Firefighter humor is
in a class of its own.

Nothing bonds two people
quite like laughter,

especially in extreme
otherwise grim circumstances.

We remember the people who make us smile.

Firefighters, most of the
really good ones anyway,

always have a good sense of humor.

Tom was no different.

- He had a remarkable laugh.

You can hear his laugh from a mile away.

- He just cared about
people, made friends easily.

Everyone loved the guy.

- Funny, dedicated to the job.

And more so dedicated to his family.

- It took a lot to make him laugh.

- I would say that he was kind,

and he always liked a good joke,

- Had a very dry sense of humor,

always whispered when he's telling a joke.

- You walk into the room,
everybody turned around,

start laughing, hey Tom, how you been?

While a
firefighter is depended on

to be the first responder to an emergency,

roughly 16% of firemen
in the United States

have to Moonlight with a second job

in order to make ends meed.

- He had like a second job.

He was a firefighter, but
then he was also a carpenter.

So he did like kitchens, redid kitchens,

and cabinetry, and stuff like that,

and so he did, he always
wanted it to look perfect,

you know, so he just
really had like an eye

for that kind of thing,

and he liked doing things well.

- Tom was, he was a hard worker,

and not only was he working

at the fire department at the time,

but I remember he was working
off duty refinishing cabinets.

He would come in every day,

and he had a stain all over his hands,

and he'd worked all day the day before.

You never had to not,

you could always count on Tom.

The engine was always ready.

We ever had a call, he
was the first jump in.

Tom was a hard worker,

and he was dedicated what he did.

- As a firefighter, we're
there a third of our lives.

So a lot of times,

we spend more time at the fire station

than you do at home sometimes,

and when you go home you're tired,

and you want to get a meal,
and get some sleep, you know?

Especially if we've had a
particularly rough shift,

and we've been up for 24 hours, or so,

ready to go home, and sleep.

- So he did work hazmat for a while,

and I remember him coming home,

and I think there was,

I don't know if it was a bomb,

or at like, looks like a bomb,

but they had to like suit up, and go in.

I forget, I think it was like at UCI,

and so I remember him saying that

it was like very stressful,

because he only did that
for like a little while.

In 1994,
he earned his position

as Captain Wall on Engines
17, 38, and finally Engine 21.

During Tom's ever changing
career as a firefighter,

he achieved advancements,

and kept his skill levels up to date.

Eventually he became an
instructor for Academy 17.

- He always seemed to shine

when he was doing his job
better than the other guys.

Not trying to outdo everybody,
or any particular person,

just giving everything
he had to get it right.

A lot of guys, being a fireman is a job.

Wasn't a job for Tom.

- We're inside Kim's house,

and then there's a
neighbor ran over to Kim's,

and said that their backyard was on fire.

We went out to the front.

Tom was in his shorts, and
tee shirt, and flip flops,

and saw the fire in the
neighbor's backyard,

ran over, jumped over the fence.

I went with him.

We grabbed a couple of garden hoses,

and he was directing me.

I never put out a fire before.

I had no idea what I was doing,

and he directed me where to put the water,

and we knocked down the fire,

and by the time the fire
department got there,

the fire was out,

and Tom was out there with the water hose,

his flip flops, and shorts,
putting out the fire.

- Most of the fires you
have in a fire station

at the, you know, you get called
out on are not really big.

They're, you know, handled
usually by one engine,

not the major fires that you see on TV,

although they happen all the time.

- They were at a brush fire.

For whatever reason, my dad
left his turncoat in the truck,

in the fire engine,

and I think they were just
surveying stuff at the time.

They were trying to figure out

like where they were gonna park

and actually start
fighting this brush fire.

The wind had changed really drastically,

and the fire was then like

getting blown against
the side of this hill,

but it was basically gonna start a burn

behind the fire engine,

and so he needed to move
the truck real quick,

and it wasn't my dad,

it was another firefighter
had jumped into the cab,

and hit the air brake, but
there was all this fire,

and wind nearby,

and the air brakes like sucked up fire

into the cab of the truck.

Basically there was a big
fireball inside the cab.

One of the reasons that that firefighter

didn't get really burned
was because he reached over,

and just instinctually, and
grabbed my dad's turncoat,

and threw it over his head.

That basically saved him.

They've joked about it all the time,

like it's a firehouse,
and stuff like that,

ribbing each other like they do.

- He was very well in
versed what he was doing.

He'd been doing it a long time.

No, he was doing what he loved.

So I let him do it,

and I want him to have peace of mind

that I wasn't worrying about him.

- That morning, we got along so well that

I would go to work extra
early in the morning.

I would show up at like 7:00,

wait for him to get out of the shower,

and give him a coffee,

sit down, and just BS for awhile,

and then I'd go over the events

of what happened the day before,

and we did the same thing that morning.

Wind was howling, Santa Ana winds.

I was getting ready to leave,

and I felt kind of uneasy,

and I just turned to him, and says,

you probably ought to make sure

the engine's ready to go out of County,

because I think you're
gonna be gone by noon.

And he was, I think they
were dispatched about 11:00

in the morning to Riverside.

I was on the
engine company with Tom.

It was a Tom, myself, and a firefighter,

and about, I remember
about 10:30, or 11:00,

sometime around there
we got on a strike team

to Cal Mesa area for a brush fire.

We got there, and fought the fire.

Eventually the fire got
into some structures,

and at one point

I wasn't really paying a
whole lot of attention.

I was watching the engine.

Battalion chief we had
at the time said kind of,

keep an eye on Tom.

He was over off to the side,

and he said he doesn't look real good,

and at that point some
Riverside paramedics,

and also Orange County Fire
Department paramedics went over,

and kind of were talking with them,

and next time I looked, they
had put some oxygen on Tom,

and still didn't think too much about it.

I went over, and said, how do you feel?

And he says, you know, I feel okay.

As time progressed, and
I looked back again,

and the medics were doing CPR on Tom.

On October 5th,
1998, Captain Thomas Wall died

while battling to
California Taylor wildfire

in Riverside County.

He was working on a roof

trying to save a home that had caught fire

from burning embers.

He had been fighting the
fire for over 10 hours.

When he collapsed.

- My phone rang, and it
was a cousin in Arizona.

I go, what's up?

And, and Debbie says,

well, we heard a fireman was
killed from Orange County,

and I said, what are you talking about?

I didn't even know that they had gone.

I was just home doing
stuff around the house.

So she told me.

So I turned on the news,

and found out they had been dispatched

to the Taylor fire in Riverside,

and then they switched over
with the live helicopter footage

of a strike team of structure engines,

and a crew working a guy
doing CPR on the ground,

and then the phone rang again.

It was my mom, she was crying.

She says, thank God you're alive,

and I go, what's going on?

And she says, a firemen
from Orange County,

and I said, Orange County?

She says yeah, they said Tustin.

Well the department
wasn't releasing the name,

they weren't notifying anybody.

So I immediately jumped on my car,

and drove back to the fire station,

and the word was starting to come in

that somebody had been killed.

- I worked that night,
and two firefighters died

we heard on the radio.

- That's probably one of the saddest days

I've ever experienced in the fire service.

It's devastating for not
only me, for everybody,

because you always think, I'll be okay.

It's not gonna be a big deal.

Just go out, and do the
job, get it done, come back.

You don't think that when you left home,

that's the last time you'll see home.

- I remember hearing rumors

that somebody on the fire in Riverside,

one of our guys had gone down.

- I was at an association meeting

the day that Tom and
Hanson incident happened,

he went on a strike team
out in the Riverside area

on a brush fire.

- And then some more information came in,

and they heard that it was, you know,

one of our guys from our station,

and then we heard it was Tom,

and that he had had a heart attack.

- I was the lucky one to answer the door.

When the chaplain came.

They asked, it was the
chief and the chaplain,

and they asked for my mom,

and so I went, and got her,

and then I immediately went
into my little brother's room,

and got him, and told him
that he needed to come quick,

that something happened to dad,

and so we waited in the hallway,

and I just remember
praying that he was alive.

I guess the part of me
knew that he wasn't.

About at 9:30, or so, there
was a knock on the door,

and, because we'd been
working with the chief,

and various people with
the fire department,

with Tom's firemen having
died, I don't know,

Meghan went to the door
to look to see who it was,

and she turned around,
and said, it's firemen,

and Joel came out in the living room,

and he's like, what?

Meg said, come over here with me,

and I remember I walked past,

and I'm like, what is going on?

You know, what are you thinking?

Anyway, they stayed,

and Meg's told me that she said to him,

wait, he's like, wait for what?

She goes, y'all know,

she just had this very
distinctive gut feeling,

and when I opened the door,

it was the chief and I went,

well, hi, how are you?

And he looked like, you know,

I'd slapped him, or something,
and I said, Tom's not here.

He said we know.

Then it was the chaplain

that I'd sat next to
him at Allen's funeral,

and was not putting it together at all.

It just never occurred to me

that something was wrong in any way.

He said that Tom had had a heart attack,

and I said, well where is he?

And he said he did not survive it.

I couldn't absorb that.

I must've made some sort
of moan, or something.

I made a noise,

and, because Meghan opened the door,

and she, and Joel asked what was going on,

and I told them that their dad had died,

and it's just not something you

ever think you're ever gonna say out loud.

- As soon as my mom started crying,

we opened the door, and she told us.

- Just all of a sudden,

like all of our family
was like at our house,

like pretty immediately,

and a lot of people from the church

that we were going to at the time.

I just remember it being like
this whirlwind, you know?

- I was at home.

I remember getting a phone call

from a number I didn't recognize.

I was like, why?

I couldn't understand why
he would be calling me,

because it never happened.

Like never got calls
from other firefighters,

to me directly.

He called me, and was like, you know,

this is, I worked with your dad,

and I was like, didn't believe him,

and I think I hung up on him,

and I was like, I'm like,
this guy is like trying to,

this is a scam phone call, or whatever.

Hung up, and called me right back.

So he like gave me all the information.

I was like, okay, this guy's
probably who he says he is,

he's like, I need your address,

because I need to come pick you up,

and I was like, okay.

So he shows up, he comes inside,

he's like, your dad's in the hospital.

I need to take you to your house.

Chuck told me this, the battalion chief,

he said that he was really proud of Ian,

how many reacted in that

when he said he needed to come with him,

and he's like, well, who are you,

and why do I need to go with you?

And he didn't want to just,

he didn't want to be the one to tell him,

or rather, he just
wanted to get him to us,

and they brought him back to the house.

He was very pretty grown up.

He was like the man of the house,

you know, at point you
wanted to take care of us.

He's a sweet man, my Ian.

- I was sitting out here
the morning that he died,

had no clue about that
being the end of the day,

but I was looking at the
patio cover thinking that

it was in pretty bad shape,

had some termite issues,

and I was looking at it,

thinking about taking it down,

and of course Tom was on my mind,

because he helped me put it up.

While I was sitting here
looking off in that direction,

I saw some smoke, which
reminded me of Tom too,

because of course he was a fireman.

That evening I was at work,

and my son called me, Darren called me,

and he didn't know how
to tell me any other way.

He just told me that Tom died.

Tom is dead.

I couldn't believe it.

- I remember sitting on the couch,

and the TV was on.

The house still packed, and
it's later at night now.

I looked up at the television,

and the newscast was on,

and it was right then is
when picture of my dad's on,

and the news reporters like talking about

how he'd passed away,

and I like lost it at that point.

- I don't even think I knew
like look call he was on,

or what he was doing at work
that day until after the fact.

- Joel was only 15,

but that was like I said, about 9:30,

and I bet within a half an hour there were

50 people at the house.

The neighbors started hearing,

and bringing stuff over,

and my family came over,

and the department went,

and picked up Tom's mom to bring him over,

and there were people there
all night taking care of us.

- It was just a horrible loss.

Just a huge, a huge hole
there you couldn't fill.

All of a sudden it's like bam.

It's like huge life change, you know?

- It's like having the floor
pulled out from underneath you.

Probably felt like he was
just getting to know his dad,

and then Meghan, it was her birthday

when all of the hoopla
started when she got married.

You know, because honestly,
that was my first thought

was who's gonna walk her down the aisle,

and so her brothers did.

From the
moment Meghan was born,

Tom looked forward to the day

he would walk her down the aisle,

and give her away So she might experience

the fulfillment that
he, and Chris had found.

Unfortunately, he would not be there

to see that day come to fruition.

- I took it pretty hard.

I kind of stayed away from
a few people for awhile.

Thank God my wife was around,

because she understood
what was going on inside,

and I think everybody in the station

was having the same problem with it.

- This could happen to any of us.

I never expected it in Tom,

so it even had more significance,

because Tom seemed like a healthy,

happy go home after work family guy,

and all of a sudden he's gone.

- We were the same age either.

Great friends.

We'd worked together for quite some time.

- Every year we see
reports of firemen dying,

and it's kind of sanitized,

because we don't know them.

They're from this agency, or that agency,

or they're in Wyoming,
or Northern California,

and then it hits you
like a fist in the face.

It's your friend that was killed,

but for the grace of God,

you could have been the one,

but the fire happened when he was on it.

- No one would have expected
what happened that day.

I think it brought a lot
of us closer together.

I think for me, that's what

got me through it as the
fact that it's not chaos.

My belief is there's a
reason everything happens.

When you die, you don't
cease to exist, you continue.

It was a very sad day.

It still is a sad day
when I think about it.

I just wish the guy was back,

wish I could snap my fingers,

or wake up, and this whole
thing was a nightmare.

- It's a huge loss, you know?

To this day I'd still pick him.

- Tom and I had a pact
that was done years prior,

that we had a captain,

a really good guy that had
some sage advice for us,

for all firemen is, hey,
makes sure you have a friend

that you can count on
should you pass away,

because the family, they'd be,

it'd be too much of an emotional event,

and Tom, and I talked about it.

I'd be his, he'd be mine.

Never brought it up prior to that event.

It probably took place seven,

eight years prior to his death.

On October 10th, 1998,

1,800 firefighters marched
alongside his flag draped coffin

to pay homage to a
fallen hero, and comrade.

I'll tell you right now that
the day before when Crystal,

and I were discussing it,

I said to her, you know,

there's gonna be a lot of people there,

and if I start getting choked up,

because I was choked up, do something,

make an ugly face, or something, you know?

So I got up there, and
I addressed everybody,

and I started a talk,
and I started choking up,

and I just happened to
look down the front row,

and there was Chris, and
she just looked at me,

and stuck her tongue out with a big smile.

It's like, okay, we're okay,

we can go with this, you know?

And they got through it.

- I loved him as a friend,

but also admired him as a family member,

because of his relationship with his wife,

and especially his children.

- At the funeral they
shut down Tustin Avenue

like main street, and everything,

and there was 3,000 people there.

I'd never seen that
many people at a funeral

that I personally
attended ever in my life.

There was helicopters, and
like all kinds of stuff.

The entire Orange County Fire Department

had like a whole procession
down the main street.

The house that my dad helped
save that like he died there,

that family actually came to the funeral,

and they were like super thankful,

and everything like super nice people.

It's important to cherish those things,

people in your life, and stuff like that,

because you don't know when

the last time you're gonna
talk to him is, you know?

- My wife went to the services with me,

and she was awestruck.

She couldn't believe the
remembrance, the celebration,

how everyone stuck together,
came together for Tom,

and his family.

- Each alarm was sounded by a bell.

It called them to fight fires,

and to place their lives in jeopardy

for the good of their fellow man,

and when the fire was out,

and the alarm had been completed,

it was the bell that signaled it's end.

This day, we seek strong words,

and symbols that give us

a better understanding of our feelings

when we experienced such a loss,

and we use the symbols,

and words to reflect the
devotion of our brother Tom

for his duties.

The sounding of a bell, a
special signal of three rings,

three times each, represented
the end of their duties

at that they were returning to quarters,

and so now on this day, Tom
Wall has completed his tasks,

his duties well done.

He has given his best,

and for our dear brother,

his last alarm, he has gone home.

The OCPFA
president Joe Kerr once said,

"Anytime you see a firefighter

"sweating in the heat of battle,

"anytime you see a friend
working to help another,

"anytime you see a virtuous act by someone

"who does not want the recognition,

"someone who does not hesitate to act,

"someone who will help out
whenever there's a need,

"you see, Tom.

"I believe we will see him again."

- I mean, that's why fireman fight so hard

to keep people alive on medical calls,

because they don't want
their family to suffer.

Sometimes we get lucky,
and oftentimes we don't.

- Yeah, I mean,

and being 18, I always would laugh,

because I'm like,

it got my teenage years
were not the like carefree,

you're gonna live forever.

Like the immortal,

like you have this idea

that like nothing bad
is gonna happen to you

when you're 18, 19, 20.

That was not my reality, I guess.

- My brother was young,

so my brother's the youngest,
and I unfortunately,

I think it like cut
her relationship short.

- I remember everybody tried
to keep us real busy, right?

And some of the women from church

wanted me to go with them to a craft fair.

I think it was probably in Anaheim.

It's kind of like not knowing
what to do with your arms,

you know, you're just sort of like,

I don't know what I'm doing.

But I was standing on
a corner of a street,

and nobody was around
me for a brief moment,

and I remember feeling
incredibly small on the Earth,

and like Tom was my protective bubble,

and it was like that was gone.

It almost felt like right then

I wouldn't have been surprised

if all the gravity let loose on me,

and I just floated off.

- It was really hard on my mom too,

because I think she ended up
locking herself in her room

for like three days, like
wasn't eating, or anything,

and I don't even think she
would really talk to anybody.

That was super rough,

especially, because my brother,

and sister were younger at the time,

and I'd never gone through this before,

so I didn't know what to do.

Just no playbook, right?

It was a rough time,

but we ended up pulling
through okay, I think.

Tom had a special connection

with those he helped.

He was a walking, breathing
blessing to everyone.

Anybody, and everybody came before Tom.

He was also a rock for fellow firefighters

as he guided them through loss, and pain,

walking with them as a friend

throughout personal triumphs, and defeats.

An ironic example of this commitment

was when Tom's own
firefighter Alan Donalyn

had just passed away,

and Tom became deeply involved

as the family's liaison, and friend.

Tom was there absorbing as
much of the pain as possible

from Alan's widow, Kara.

Chris thought of Tom is a very humble man,

who did not take praise,
and appreciation easily.

He didn't understand all the attention

surrounding himself at Allen's funeral.

After all, he was just
doing what came naturally.

- We have lost his fireman,

Alan Donlon about a month earlier.

Alan was a rookie for me,

and when he finished his
probation he had to leave.

He had to go to be assigned to a station

after he was done with his training,

and I wanted to keep him, but I couldn't,

I didn't have the positions
for him, and Tom did.

So Tom grabbed him,

and he went to work for Tom,

and he passed away in a hospital

17 days after surgery that went bad.

We all took it hard.

Tom took it really hard.

You could see the tears in his eyes

when we found out that morning
that Alan had passed away,

and then fast speed, 30
days later we lose Tom,

and I said to the guys, I said,

this firehouse has never
lost anybody on a fire,

and we need to remember these two guys.

- This was built by the
guys at the station.

I believe our union helped financially,

and our Padella association,

it was built on duty by
the guys at the station,

but specifically Joe Garcia.

He's since retired,

but he does all the masonry stuff,

and so he built the whole thing.

It's got lights, we have a switch.

We can turn the lights on.

At night it actually really looks nice.

He left a big impact on the department,

and you know, I know
that's why we have this

is so that we don't
forget that we remember

the people in the families

that are involved in our department,

and affect us, and leaves
those memories with us.

- I know I said to myself at his funeral,

looking at the flag, and
just kind of chuckled,

and said, someday I'm
coming up there buddy,

and then not gonna be your rookie.

Make sure the coffee's hot,

and make sure I have clean turnouts,

and we'll be on the
engine up there together,

but I think all firemen think that,

you know, that when we die,

we're greeted by all our brothers up there

as well as our family members,

and then when my time comes

that Tom Wall will be standing up there,

with a big grin on his face,

and a cup of coffee ready for me.

- The last conversation I had with him was

on his birthday at my aunt Kim's,

and I remember him calling me,

well, my mom had called me,

and said, hey, come out
for your dad's birthday,

blah, blah, blah, and I was like,

I got to do laundry,

and all this stuff around the house,

and I got work tomorrow,

and like driving all
the way out to Riverside

is like this huge thing.

I'm like, I'll see you next
week, or whatever, right?

And I didn't know it at the time,

but that was gonna be the
last time I talked to my dad.

He called back, and asked me like,

come over, or whatever
and I was super stubborn.

He's like, your mom will
do your laundry for you,

and stuff like come out, or whatever,

and it was one of those
things where I'm like,

no, I'm not gonna like,

let my parents take care of me anymore.

I'm gonna do it on my own type of thing.

That was the last time I got
to talk to him was telling him

I wasn't gonna show up
to his birthday party,

which sucks, but...

- I remember things, and smile, you know?

I don't know how to explain it.

It's like in memory of an old lost friend

that you all of a sudden
calls you on the phone,

you start talking to a few really good.

And every time that I was
near Tom talking to Tom,

doing anything with
Tom, it was always fun.

Never any problems, just the
guy was a joy to be around.

If you were stressed, and he walked in,

the stress would go away.

He had that kind of charisma about him.

Tom is survived
by his wife, Christine,

his daughter Meghan, and
his sons, Ian, and Joel.

He is remembered as a hero
who courageously gave his life

in the loving service of others.

- We're supposed to grow old together.

I visualize that part of our
foundation under our house

had been blown away,

because I was a Fireman's wife though,

and he was gone so much.

It just, and it's sort of an unreal way,

it felt like he just was
on an extended, you know,

assignment, or something.

If you having
started your own company,

how do you think your dad
would have reacted to that?

- I think he would've loved it,

because I mean he ran his
own carpentry business

on the side, you know,

he was like finishing cabinets,

and doing stuff like
that on the side anyway.

A lot of firefighters have side work stuff

that they do anyway.

So he lost his dad around the same age,

and that also like changed

a lot of the way I perceived
things that he did,

or talked about as well,

because he had that experience.

So looking back on it through that lens

kind of changes the way you
perceive those memories too,

because now you have this
like weird common bond

that you didn't have before,

but you also can't talk to them about it.

So I mean we used to play
like a lot of music together,

and stuff like that.

- And this is G right here.

- My dad started playing
guitar when he was like 35,

like around my age now.

- He like loved playing songs

about having a dad
growing up with your dad,

or losing your father,
or that type of stuff,

and I played those songs with him.

So it's kind of weird to
think about that in hindsight.

- He, you know, he wanted
to be a grandpa, and stuff,

and I've got two kids, and you know?

I think he would be totally stoked.

Joel would
follow in his dad's footsteps

sharing his same passion,
and inspiration for music.

- I think about that,

like he'd probably come
over with his guitar,

and play with the kids, you
know, and play for them.

My kids like to sing too,

so I think they would've had a great time.

I think he would have
just like really enjoyed

just hanging out with them, you know?

- I mean I think you would just say like

try to enjoy life as much as you can.

Find the good moments,
and the fun moments,

and clinging onto those, I guess.

- I would think Tom's
message to any of us would be

focused around his family.

He's was a strong, strong
family guy who loved his family.

- I think Tom,

Tom would probably tell
me when you get stressed,

if you get down for some reason,

just stop, take a big breath,

look up, see the sun, and
realize that tomorrow's coming.

- He'd probably say, dude,

you've been eating pretty good?

- We lost a lot when we lost Tom.

He stands out more than
a lot of the others,

friends that I've had,
but he was going places.

He was gonna do good things for people.

- I do have this really weird memory,

I was real little.

I was like a baby.

I was probably under three years old.

I remember, because we lived in the house

that I was born in was in Santa Ana.

We had horses on the property.

Like, I have a memory of him carrying me,

and like watching a fowl being
born, for whatever reason,

I have this memory of like
him standing out by the,

by the pen, and watching this,

this baby horse be born, weird memory.

- Tom knew how to listen to people.

As I said before,

he knew how to make people feel important,

and he had that wide smile on
his face whenever he saw you,

as if he had been just waiting
for you to come in that door.

I really try to make people
feel that way when I see them.

I'm sure I fall short of
Tom's excellence in that,

but it's something I aspire
to be like at all times,

and so I have.

Thank you Ian.

- I like it.

What about you Meghan?

If the camera
moves, everything moves.

- That's one of the things
about having a camera,

your hands can never move.

Whenever a camera's shaky.

He's taking a little nap.

- They're always getting sick like this.

- Yeah you know better.