THE CREATIVE ALLIANCE

Two powerful storytellers have joined forces to transform the hidden epidemic of firefighter cancer into national awareness and public understanding beyond the fire service — at a scale and emotional depth never before attempted.

WADE COTA
American Idol Top-5 Finalist and recording artist known for raw, powerful vocals and emotionally resonant songwriting is writing and performing the original song.

PATRICK GRAMM
Emmy-winning director (Dying to Save You), co-founder of Firefighter48, and the leading cinematic voice documenting firefighter cancer will produce and direct the music film — and the overall project.

Together, they are transforming an internal crisis into a shared human understanding:

Firefighters are developing cancer from occupational exposure.

Firefighters are dying from cancer.

Losing a firefighter devastates families, firehouses and entire communities.

THE MISSION

Firefighter cancer is rising. Awareness is not keeping pace.

Last Alarm is designed to be the most impactful firefighter cancer awareness project ever created.

Through music and cinematic storytelling, this project reaches beyond the fire service to create emotional understanding, public awareness, policy momentum, and funding for prevention and research — while honoring the fallen and protecting those still on the line.

THE SONG

Last Alarm is a slow-burning elegy that gives form and voice to a crisis long hidden in plain sight.

Through the story of Tempe Fire Captain Scott Leatham — a firefighter, husband, father, and friend who gave everything — the song captures the unspoken fears carried by today’s firefighters and the families who wait for the bell to ring one last time.

THE MUSIC FILM

This is more than a music video. This is a music film — where the song emerges from the story rather than leading it.

The narrative unfolds through a powerful opening chapter then weaves through five story arcs that build to an emotional conclusion that hits like a mayday call:

(1) Scott’s Decline
A cinematic descent through the devastation of firefighter cancer — from diagnosis to his widow being handed the flag.

(2) Ashley’s Grief
An intimate portrait of loss as a permanent condition — private moments of survival inside a home forever changed.

(3) Scott’s Life
Family archives revealing the warmth, humor, and humanity of the man we lost to occupational cancer.

(4) The Writing of Last Alarm
Wade Cota’s struggle to find language for what feels fundamentally unjust.

(5) The Song Recording and Performance
Artists. Instruments. Engineers. Mixing board. The physical act of transforming grief into an anthem, filmed in the recording studio.

Together, these 5 story arcs collide in rising intensity — memory, loss, love, and legacy layered in rhythm with the music, like a fireground operation working in concert.

THE REVEAL

The film rejects linear narrative in favor of a controlled frenzy of memory and loss.

As the music fades to silence, and all story arcs conclude …  the invisible antagonist is finally named:

FIREFIGHTERS ARE NOT DYING FROM FIRES.
THEY ARE DYING FROM CANCER.

WHY YOU SHOULD BE PART OF THIS PROJECT

Within the fire service, this cancer reality is understood.
Outside it, awareness remains low.

Dangerously low.

Last Alarm translates the firefighter cancer crisis into a human story the public, policymakers, and the next generation of firefighters can feel, share, and carry forward.

This project ensures Captain Scott Leatham’s story and what the Leatham family has gone through is not only remembered forever —  but becomes a battle cry for what firefighters across the country are facing.

Your support as a founding sponsor will help carry this message nationwide and ignite awareness where it is needed most.

Let’s make Last Alarm the soundtrack to the fight that protects the next generation of firefighters.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES & FUNDING USE

Funding Goal: $60,000
Fundraising Deadline: March 7th, 2025

Project funding enables the creation, release, and national reach of Last Alarm, including:

- Creation, recording, and mastering of the original song
- Production of the cinematic music film (pre-production through final post)
- National digital release and shareable media distribution
- Development of a dedicated project website documenting the story, film, and founding supporters
- Outreach, public relations, and awareness efforts to maximize national impact
- Insurance, logistics, crew, equipment, and studio rentals
- Long-term hosting, preservation, and maintenance of the project website (10+ years)
- Targeted promotion and advertising to extend reach beyond the fire service

Project Duration:
Production is scheduled to begin immediately upon funding and complete within 90 days.

100% of music film advertising revenue, in perpetuity, will be directed to the Leatham family.

SPONSORSHIP STRUCTURE

PRESENTING SPONSOR / EXECUTIVE PRODUCER — $25,000

(1 available) Primary underwriting partner.

Recognition & Benefits

- Executive Producer credit
- End-credit recognition in the film
- IMDb Executive Producer credit
- Premier placement on the project website
- Recognition in press materials
- Wade Cota signed acoustic guitar
- Wade Cota signed production-used film slate (1 of 5)
- Wade Cota signed 8X10 with personalized thank you note
- Featured placement in the project origin story
- Last Alarm Supporter challenge coin

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER — $10,000+

Recognition & Benefits

- Executive Producer credit
- End-credit recognition in the film
- IMDb Executive Producer credit
- Inclusion on the project website
- Recognition in premiere and press materials
- Wade Cota signed production-used film slate (1 of 5)
- Wade Cota signed 8X10 with personalized thank you note
- Placement in the project origin story
- Last Alarm Supporter challenge coin

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER — $5,000+

Recognition & Benefits

- Associate Producer credit
- End-credit recognition in the film
- IMDb Associate Producer credit
- Inclusion on the project website
- Recognition in premiere and press materials
- Wade Cota signed 8X10 with personalized thank you note
- Placement in the project origin story
- Last Alarm Supporter challenge coin

COMMUNITY PARTNER — $1,000+

Grassroots participation level supporting national awareness.

Recognition & Benefits

- Website recognition
- Wade Cota signed 8X10 with thank you note
- Inclusion in the supporter archive
- Last Alarm Supporter challenge coin

IN CLOSING

If this web page is up, the opportunity to support and have your name attached to this project still exists.

Please join us in carrying this important message beyond the firehouse and into the hearts of the nation.

Patrick Gramm
Director, Last Alarm
Patrick@Redvolcanic.com
847.770.0909