VIDEO: As a singer-songwriter, Larry Long has made a career out of making music with a message, but he hopes his latest creation will strike a chord on the issue of firefighter health and wellness.
"You can never predict where a song is going to go or the effect it's going to have, but time will tell," said Long, who is from south Minneapolis.
Long came up with the idea for “Firefighter (Duty, Honor, Courage)” after tagging along with a group of firefighters as they put out a restaurant blaze over a decade ago. The song chronicles the challenges the public servants face both on and off the job, like cancer, heart attacks and emotional trauma, which they are twice as likely to experience than the regular population.
"There hasn't been a lot of music written for the fire service and the journey that all of us firefighters are on," said George Esbensen, a retired Eden Prairie fire chief.