California-based Fireman's Fund has gone into the movie business as part of a marketing effort and a campaign to secure more support for the nation's fire departments.

Next Friday the History Channel will air "Into the Fire," a documentary on firefighters directed by Bill Couturie? that is underwritten by Fireman's Fund.

Through interviews with more than a dozen firefighters, mixed with footage from actual fire scenes, it tells the story of the joys, thrills, boredom and pain they experience while serving their communities.

In the film, Tomi Rucker, a Washington, D.C. firefighter, discusses her experience as a rookie firefighter and what she and her crew went through as they fought fires at the Pentagon after the 2001 terrorist attack.

Other segments include Rick Smith, a firefighter with the Ipswich Fire Department in Ipswich, Mass., who tells of helplessness after arriving at a fire with an undermanned fire truck and being unable to save a mother and child.

Michael Perry, a volunteer firefighter with the New Auburn Fire Department in New Auburn, Wis., discusses firefighters' heroism.

The main point of the film, explained Charles M. Kavitsky, chief executive officer of the Novato, Calif.-based carrier, is to make people aware of the firefighter's sacrifice and the need to adequately equip every station with men and equipment.

"The movie's aim is to get the word out about the need for equipment, the need for funding, the need for help; the bravery that exists; the uniqueness of what they do; why they are respected and trusted," said Mr. Kavitsky. "This [movie] is what I feel we owe them to get this message out."

Mr. Kavitsky said the work his company is doing to help support firefighters coincides with a branding effort that harks back to a company mission when it was founded more than 140 years ago.

At the time it was established, one of the purposes of the carrier was to provide a portion of its profits to the widows and orphans of those lost in the fire service--something the company eventually discontinued.

Darryl Siry, the company's chief marketing officer, said: "What the fire service does is protect life and property. To market ourselves with that service resonates with our customers and makes sense with our business."

In 2004, the carrier founded its Fireman's Fund Heritage Program with a $500,000 grant to San Diego County, Calif.-area fire departments. So far the program has given away $10.5 million in grants, and is accelerating, said Mr. Kavitsky.

"[In marketing] it's too easy to look for something superficial," he said. "It only works if you really mean it. It has to be real to our customers," Mr. Kavitsky added, noting that the program is a long-term commitment to fire service.

Heritage Program funds have gone to the purchase of thermal imaging cameras, self-contained breathing apparatus, fire shelters, radios, defibrillators, trucks, education programs and other essentials for the fire fighter service.

Fireman's is a unit of German insurer the Allianz Group.

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Fireman's Marketing Goes Back To Its Roots

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