County Firefighter Reflects on His Appearance on Oprah as Show's Finale Approaches
Two firefighters from Prince George's County were featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004.
When firefighters Phillip Bird and Kenneth Ward went to Detroit, MI. for a conference in September of 2004, with Prince George’s County Fire Department Spokesman Mark Brady, they thought they would be recruiting new firefighters and teaching rapid intervention. However, instead Bird and Ward were surprised by actor John Travolta and the cast of Ladder 49, who were sent by The Oprah Winfrey Show to bring them back to Chicago for an episode on "ultimate thank yous." In February of 2004, Bird and Ward helped saved fellow firefighter, Lt. “Dino” Mahaffey, from a house fire in Oxon Hill. “He was trapped and seriously injured, and a team of firefighters, and I found him without a mask and not breathing well,” Bird, now a lieutenant teaching at …
