Angels of Fire
Michael Mason was a 6-year-old first-grade student and survivor of the Dec 1, 1958 Our Lady of the Angels Catholic School Fire in Chicago, Illinois, out of this tragedy Michael Mason has composed and recorded the “Angels of Fire” compact disc recording project that is dedicated to the 92 Students and 3 Catholic Nuns who perished that day in education history. There isn’t any other memorial to commemorate the victims of this tragic fire. Michael assembled an international band of musicians to produce the “Angels of Fire” compact disc recording project which is composed of all original jazz, rock and world music.
Michael Mason is a 38-year Retired Lieutenant with the Downers Grove Fire Department and for the past 10 plus years he has thought thousands of fire fighters at the Fire Academy who are then assigned to work at fire houses across the entire Chicago area. Through the RICO Rapid Intervention Company Operations class which teaches first responders how to save each other at the scene of any type of incident and has taught first responders worldwide.
All profits from the sales of the “Angels of Fire” CD which can be purchased on the www.fireflute.com website “Home Page”, will be donated to the IFSA/Illinois Fire Safety Alliance, who provided the funding for this recording project. The IFSA host a sponsored Burn Camp to allow children scared by fire the opportunity to have a summer program of enjoyment. Michael believes music has the power to heal and help the children who have been burned and hurt by these tragedies.
Making music has always been a labor of love for jazz, but for Michael and through this project it was a mission of remembrance, hope and dedicating a memorial to the victims and survivors from this fire that changed one Chicago community and everyone who lived in it forever and to the families who lost loved one’s way too early in life.