First-In Fire Foundation founder Lyn MacEwen Cohen was joined by Brad Burlingame during a 2015 visit to the 9/11 Memorial in Hancock Park. Burlingame’s brother Charles piloted American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, and flown into the Pentagon. (Photo courtesy of Steve Rosenthal)

From its beginning in 2008, the First-In Fire Foundation has been rooted in service, ensuring first responders have the foundational support needed to complete their mission of protecting the public.

So it is fitting that the foundation’s most recent endeavor is paying tribute to the emergency personnel who lost their lives during the September, 2001, terrorist attacks. This year marked the 25th anniversary of 9/11 – which claimed the lives of 2,977 people, including 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers – and the First-In Fire Foundation is making sure they are not forgotten.

“My vision is that I really want to continue to focus on 9/11,” First-In Fire Foundation founder and president Lyn MacEwen Cohen said. “Of course, there’s the tragedy, and we remember the people. But I also want to focus on the concept of rising beyond that and transforming the relationships we have now built with our first responders into something powerful, strong and united.”

As a leader with the Miracle Mile Civic Coalition, Cohen organized a tree planting and memorial plaque installation ceremony shortly after 9/11 in Hancock Park, the greenspace surrounding LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits. The memorial honors Capt. Charles Burlingame, pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked and flown into The Pentagon. Burlingame’s brother Brad, who died in 2015, was a Miracle Mile resident and longtime civic leader.

Twenty-five years after the tragedy, Cohen is marking the anniversary with a message of hope and call to action for people to improve the world. She is working on a tribute for the victims and plans to create a lasting way to both pay tribute and spark a revival of service to community.

“Maybe the best way that we can honor those loved and lost is by public service in our own life,” Cohen said. “Let’s think about each of us. What could we do to help our hometown?”

That compassion for helping others is what inspired Cohen to start the First-In Fire Foundation in 2008. The nonprofit raises funds and organizes programs that support personnel at Los Angeles fire stations. It started with the Firehouse Dinners program, which stocks the shelves so firefighters have nutritious meals during long shifts, and don’t have to shop or bear the expense. First-In Fire Foundation expanded to the Firehouse Freezers program, in which freezers and food storage containers are donated, and has launched other initiatives to replace washers and dryers in fire stations. As Cohen puts it, they are “Partners in Preparedness.”

“We are the Miracle Mile. We are the City of the Angels. And we have work to do together. This 25 years of community partnership with local first responders is a transformation, a rising beyond the tragedy,” she said. “Fundamentally, this 25th anniversary of 9/11 highlights what is possible and so very positive. At First-In Fire Foundation, we have often said over the last 25 years, ‘Courage lives at the firehouse next door,’ and ‘When you walk into a firehouse, you walk into the heart of America.’”