Lt. Joseph Torrillo, director of Fire Education Safety, FDNY: Fisher-Price had a line of children’s toys called “Rescue Heroes” that kids loved. They had a police officer called Jake Justice, a lifeguard called Wendy Waters, an ambulance attendant called Perry Medic. They wanted a New York City firefighter—they were going to call him Billy Blazes. They would give me one dollar for every Billy Blazes sold around the world, money I would use in my public education program. They wanted to do a big press conference and introduce this new Rescue Hero to the world. I was scratching my head with the
...more
