Fire Engineer Rides Cross-Country to Shine Light on PTSD
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Cal fire/san diego county Fire apparatus engineer Thomas pitman in neon yellow shirt poses with Jacksonville beach firefighters at the end of his memorial bike ride.
CAL FIRE/San Diego County Fire Apparatus Engineer Thomas Pitman finished a cross-country bicycle ride earlier this month to help raise awareness and money for the Cory Iverson Foundation for Active Awareness. Iverson, 32, of Escondido died in in December 2017 while battling the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Iverson’s widow, Ashley Iverson, started a nonprofit foundation to help bring awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder in men and women in the fire service and help them. Pitman decided he wanted to do something to honor his friend and help raise money so the foundation can offer programs such as peer support and mental health to the firefighters.
He surpassed his fundraising goal of $1 a mile for the 2,500-mile trip and finished with $12,000.
Pitman started out on New Year’s Day in Imperial Beach and rode for 36 days as part of the Ride Into the Light. He finished in Jacksonville Beach, Florida on Feb. 5. Relive his emotional finish here. (Video from CAL FIRE Facebook)