California Professional Firefighters

Palo Alto Fire Fighters Don Pink Helmet to Raise Breast Cancer Awareness

Catherine Capriles, Local 1319's Governmental Affairs Representative, wears the pink helmet.

One October shift, Palo Alto Fire Fighters Local 1319 Secretary Barry Marchisio looked every bit the classic picture of a firefighter - well, apart from the petal pink helmet that he wore proudly atop his head.

"It was definitely a radical departure from our traditional black helmet, but I enjoyed it. I played it up," laughed Marchisio, who responded to a natural gas leak while wearing the pink helmet. "I got some pretty interesting looks and comments from the PG&E guys who were on the scene."

The helmet was part of an October campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related death among American women. Local 1319 purchased the pink helmet from Paul Conway Helmets. This year, the manufacturer donates 50 percent of its profits from the sale of the pink helmets to breast cancer research.

"When I was at the IAFF convention in Las Vegas, they had the pink helmet on display and I thought it might be a cool thing to do to promote breast cancer awareness," Marchisio said. He set the plan in motion and Local 1319 purchased the helmet for rotation among its members during October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In addition, Local 1319 purchased pink ribbon pins for members to wear on their uniforms throughout October.

The pink helmet proved popular not only with many Local 1319 members (particularly female firefighters), but with members of the public and Palo Alto City Council.

Fire Captain Catherine Capriles, Local 1319's Governmental Affairs Representative, brought the helmet to a City Council meeting to explain its purpose and received positive feedback from council members.

It's enough to turn the pink helmet into an annual October tradition for Local 1319. Marchisio already plans to don the helmet again next year.

"Absolutely," he chuckled. "It's good for my image."