COSTA MESA : Firefighters Are Up to Something Good

Stephen Mulcare and Brian Johnson have spent the last two days perched 20 feet in the air at the end of a firetruck snorkel to help raise money for children burned by fire.

The pair stood there Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. waving to passersby at the Orange County Fairgrounds, explaining why they are there. There was just enough room for leaning but no sitting. At night they climbed down and slept on the folded ladders on the firetruck.

This morning, they are scheduled to return to the platform. They will remain there until 3 p.m., when it’s time to go home and celebrate Christmas Eve with their families.

Dozens of people offered El Toro Fire Capt. Mulcare, 40, and Inspector Johnson, 30, food, drink and conversation. They also bought posters that display pictures of 12 of Orange County’s hunkiest firefighters and a 1993 calendar to support the firefighters’ fund-raiser, which is sponsored by the Orange County Burn Assn. Many placed pocket change and dollar bills in a five-gallon water bottle that on Tuesday yielded more than $5,000.

Last year, the county Burn Assn. netted $20,000 from the event, all of which went to help burned children get treatment and counseling. The organization--founded in 1979 by Orange County firefighters and the UCI Medical Center Burn Unit--provides assistance to burn survivors and their families, and sponsors research related to burn care.

Every year, 2 million people nationwide are burned to death or left with severe scars. The majority of those injuries are suffered by children.

“This is just a real good cause,” said Johnson, wearing a red and white Santa’s elf hat.

One woman shouted: “Merry Christmas and God bless you!” as the two smiled down at her Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Mulcare said. “You feel like you’re really doing something.”

Johnson added: “I think we’re doing a lot of good for the kids who are not only suffering from physical pain but emotional pain as well.”

One passerby, 60-year-old Joanna Economakos of Costa Mesa, said she supports the firefighters’ cause wholeheartedly. “It’s really, really important for all of us to back burn studies,” she said.