Firefighter lithographs are one of the many items that you can find on the Internet that pay tribute to the men and women who keep our towns and cities from burning to cinders. T-shirts, hats, bags--all are commonplace. Firefighter lithographs are a cut above.

In recent years, admiration for America's firefighters has steadily grown. It was only 1992 that rioters in Los Angeles shot at firefighters trying to put out flames in that troubled city. Today, it is difficult to imagine the same thing happening. Firefighters finally are getting the respect and adulation they have always deserved.

Firefighter Lithographs and Mickey Mouse

One of the firefighter lithographs you will find on the Internet features Mickey Mouse. The litho was made in 1993, a tribute to Southern California firefighters for their tough battle against that year's fierce California firestorms. The lithograph pictures Mickey Mouse standing with a fireman. A limited edition, the litho is all the more collectible because of two rare qualities.

First, Mickey Mouse is shorter than the fireman and looking up to him. This is almost unheard of in all Mickey Mouse artwork. Second, Mickey is touching the firefighter's hand. Mickey Mouse has never in his long history been pictured touching a human hand. The Walt Disney Company has strenuously controlled the Mickey Mouse image since the character's 1927 debut in "Steamboat Bill Jr." That the company portrayed Mickey Mouse in second position to a firefighter makes the image a true tribute indeed.