In 2016, a video of a fire apparatus responding to call with the audio behind it yelling, “Go get ‘em brothers,” as encouragement to the first responders was posted on to a Facebook account. Fast forward eight years, and that video led to Brotherhood Buffs, an Instagram account that has more than 164,000 followers.
The faces behind the account involve a partnership between Ian Horowitz and Dan Mathe. Horowitz takes on most of the work, while working with his business partner in investment real estate. However, the story began back in a text group chat between Horowitz and Mathe, along with Jeff and Scott Novack.
The four started as volunteer firefighters in Montgomery County, PA, and became career firefighters for the city of Baltimore where they would continue to grow their love of the fire service.
“Some nights we just had the scanner on. If we heard a fire close by, we would run out and go see what was going on. We didn't think everybody was as crazy as us,” said Horowitz. “It’s pepping the boys up! Anytime anyone in our text group would see a fire truck we would send videos back and forth yelling go get ‘em brothers.”
Some people may view the Instagram account as getting in the way of the first responders or a joke towards the fire service, however that is not the case at all.
“Anytime you hear a Q-siren, your ears perk up. You're like, all right, where's the call, do I see a column, and where are the boys going? Can I find it on the scanner app? That's where it came from, from a place of positivity. Some people don't see it that way, but that's like anything on the internet. It truly is support,” said Horowitz.
The intention is to bring some light-heartedness and support to the fire service. The dangers first responders face every day can be tolling, and they want to create a space where the support is there in a unique way.
“If you're out of the way, you're having good fun and you can make some people laugh after a really hard situation, and you can go on the internet and see something to remind yourself what you love about the fire service; and why it all got started for you, and you can laugh about it and have a good time, that's the content that we're here to provide,” said Horowitz.
Horowitz and company were making these videos before putting it out on the internet, but one of their friends convinced them to post it for everyone to see. They created a logo and posted it on Facebook. From there, overnight virality happened.
“I was literally sitting there watching the count. It was like we went from 1,000 views to 10,000 views to 20,000 views. I just remember saying to my lieutenant at the time, holy crap, man. I think this thing's going to go. We went to bed, and I thought it would be 30,000 in the morning. Next morning I woke up, and there were 100,000 views,” said Horowitz.
From that point on, the content hasn’t stopped. They received viewer-submitted videos to post and even get recognized in public.
“I was checking my messages on Instagram a few years back, and I saw this one dude that was like, ‘Really weird question, but are you standing in the Nashville airport right now?’ I said I am. I saw the dude's fire department's shirt…so I went to talk to him. Turns out we had a bunch of mutual friends. Buffing brings everybody together,” said Horowitz.
With the bit of fame, came along merchandising for the brand. The development has brought on the process of creating a foundation called the Brotherhood Buffs (BHB) Foundation. That evolved from a personal story from the group.
“Our buddy, Shane got hurt non-line-of-duty and ended up getting medically put out because of what happened to him. He lost his job over it. Eventually, our goal is to have our foundation help support those types of situations, and just being able to continue back to the fire service. Long term, that's really our goal. It's not to make money. It's not for any notoriety. Any money that comes in is to be able to donate it back and help those that are in need,” said Horowitz.
“We don’t make money from it. That's not why we do it. If you're a true buff, and those that know the story behind buffs, it's a sport. We used to joke around, it’s literally a sport in some of these towns, especially Baltimore City, Detroit or any of your heavy fire activity areas,” said Horowitz.
From years of experience on social media with a relatively large account, Horowitz emphasizes that persistence is key to gaining traction in a social media world that is ever-changing and incredibly unforgiving.
"The first couple are just going to suck. Nobody's going to want you. You're not going to get millions of views. The first video went viral. We got a million views, which was absolutely insane. We didn't get another million-view video for another five years," said Horowitz.
Finally, people can make assumptions about social media accounts, the people behind them, the intention, but there is one thing that people may not comprehend from looking at the Brotherhood Buffs Instagram account.
“I would say the only thing that you might not understand is we're just regular old firemen, however you want to look at it, we're just like everybody else,” said Horowitz.
Ryan Baker
Ryan Baker is a writer and associate editor with prior experiences in online and print production. Ryan is an associate editor for T&D World and Firehouse, while he is going to graduate school in pursuit of a master's degree in sciences of communication at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He recently completed a year of teaching Intro to Public Speaking at UW-Whitewater, as part of his graduate program. Ryan acquired his bachelor's degree in journalism in 2023 from UW-Whitewater, and operates currently out of Minneapolis, MN. Baker, also writes freelances for the Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) in his free time, while also umpiring baseball for various ages across the Twin Cities Metro Area.
