Products for Firefighters, made by a Firefighter
ABOUT ME
My name is Todd Monroe and, like most firefighters, I was given a nickname early on in my career in the fire service. Someone thought "Cha-Chi" was the name for me and it just stuck for some reason. I've been a fulltime firefighter since 1996 with the Georgetown Fire Department in Georgetown, Kentucky. I'm a proud member of IAFF Local 3681 and have been since June of 1996. I'm a Captain on Engine 3, third platoon and work a 24/48 shift. Like every firefighter I know, I had to find off-duty work and have done everything from building houses, to professional mowing, to long haul trucking (as long as I was back in 48 hours). But I couldn't get over the feeling that I was missing my calling. I've always had a love for tooled leather but never had a clue how it was done. In 2004, I decided to have a custom seat made for a chopper I was building and boy was I shocked when I was quoted a price. I began to seek out ways to learn the art of tooling leather myself. And much to my surprise, I found the Bluegrass Leather Guild in Lexington, KY was starting a beginner class the very next week. I'm a consumate perfectionist and this was the PERFECT thing to challenge my creative skills and to provide a service to the firefighting community that I love so much. I still have my first chopper seat and I still attend classes when available. It feels good to find out what you're actually supposed to be doing with your life. They'll probably have to kick me out of the fire service when I'm too old to keep up with the youngsters but I'll still keep pounding leather until the very end.
PRIMARY FOCUS
While I've done quite a bit of motorcycle related items in the past, I've decided to focus mainly on firefighter items like custom tooled leather suspenders for bunker gear, custom tooled helmet fronts, leather chin straps for your helmet, radio slings, phone, pager, and leatherman cases, water can carrying rigs, and I'm now designing a truckman's belt with the help of my truckie buddies on Tower 1. It should be available shortly. I have some axe cases and tool pouches in the final design stages also. All of my items are custom sized to fit YOU.
This is a 1 man operation in 1 room workshop at my house and I have no intention of expanding beyond that. Because of this, there is usually a backlog of work that is waiting to be finished when you order your piece. I will let you know how long it will take to receive your item. Occasionally, I will set up a booth at a local fire school but most all of my work has come from word-of-mouth. But the most common question, by far, has been "do you have a website?". So here it is. Hopefully you'll find this site helpful in acquiring the very best leather equipment money can buy for your firefighting needs. And if it's something completely different that you need tooled in leather, just let me know and I'll do my best to help you out. Check out my photo albums to get some ideas of what else can be done. Thank you for visiting.
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