Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
While I never met Pete Lund, I know the name very well. This article is about him and his legacy which is being carried on by a bunch of great firefighters who run PL Vulcan. I was inspired to put this article together after viewing the video at the bottom of this article. It is hosted on Vimeo and differs somewhat from the youtube video above.
My exposure to PL Vulcan has been limited to reading online and bumping into PL Vulcan lead instructor Mark Gregory at FDIC. I look forward to catching one of their classes in the future.
If you are an instructor, the legacy that Pete Lund has left is something that should drive you to consistently reevaluate yourself in offering the very best to the fire service. Read on….
Lt. Pete Lund Memorial T-Shirt in loving memory of FDNY Lt. and Kentland Member Pete Lund. All proceeds go to the Peter B. Lund Memorial Scholarship.
Retired FDNY Lt. Peter Lund died in the line of duty on June 14th after fighting a fire with his volunteer fire dept. in Woodmere, NY. The fire, which occurred at 753 Long Acre Ave., was apparently electrical in nature. After the fire was extinguished, Pete Lund was stricken by a heart attack and was transported to St. John’s Hospital in cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly before midnight. He was 54-years old.
Lt. Lund served as a volunteer for the Woodmere Fire Dept. for 35 years, and was Chief of the department from 1989 to 1991. He followed in the footsteps of his father Clarence who served the Woodmere FD for 75 years. Lt. Lund was also an active volunteer with the Kentland Vol. Fire Dept. in Landover, Prince Georges County, Maryland.
While Lt. Lund began and ended his time in the fire service as a volunteer, he will most likely be remembered for his 30 year career with the FDNY. He joined the FDNY in 1973 and served until May of 2003. Lt. Lund served as a firefighter in several companies before joining Brooklyn’s Rescue Co. 2 in which he served until his promotion to Lieutenant in 1984. From 1984-1995, Lt. Lund served in the Bronx’s Rescue Co. 3 and then moved to Rescue Co. 2 as a Lt. where he served until his retirement. He was also a member of the FEMA USAR NY-TF1 from 1994 to 2003.
Lt. Lund is survived by his wife Andrea, daughter Valerie, and son Matthew is also a career firefighter with the Annapolis, Maryland Fire Department.
Our Group is dedicated to continuing the training traditions of Lieutenant Pete Lund, a 30 year veteran of FDNY assigned to Rescue Company 2. During Pete’s three decades of fire duty, he became known as “Vulcan” the Greek God of Fire. In 2002, he formed a group of firefighters to go out and provide realistic fire training across the country. Although comprised mainly of FDNY members, most had a background in the volunteer fire service. In 2005, Pete died in the line of duty while operating at a structure fire in his hometown of Woodmere, NY. Although Pete is no longer physically with us,”his guys” continue his mission of keeping the training interesting and informational. We pride ourselves on Pete’s theory: “In The Fire Service You Either Lead, Follow, Or Get Out Of The Way”
