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Eagles fan Ryan Morrise spent January fighting the L.A. wildfires. He was at the Super Bowl thanks to Jimmy Kimmel.

“I don’t do my job to get public handouts, I want to do it so I can assist the public,” said Morrise, who received tickets on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Ryan Morrise (left) and his brother, Joe Lucier, attend Super Bowl LIX. Morrise, a longtime Eagles fan and an L.A. firefighter, received tickets from Jimmy Kimmel as a thank-you for his work fighting the Palisades Fire in January.
Ryan Morrise (left) and his brother, Joe Lucier, attend Super Bowl LIX. Morrise, a longtime Eagles fan and an L.A. firefighter, received tickets from Jimmy Kimmel as a thank-you for his work fighting the Palisades Fire in January.Read moreCourtesy of Ryan Morrise

Ryan Morrise has never set foot in Philadelphia. But the Los Angeles firefighter became a diehard Eagles fan after watching Super Bowl LII — thanks to the Philly Special.

“I was just starting out high school football, and my uncle was an Eagles fan, and right after they did the Philly Special with Nick Foles as quarterback, I was like, ‘This team is crazy. I’ve never seen something like that,’” Morrise said. “It really inspired me to start watching them more and more.”

On Sunday, the Long Beach native got to attend his first Eagles game, Super Bowl LIX, thanks to Jimmy Kimmel, after spending January fighting the L.A. wildfires.

Eight months ago, Morrise, 22, joined the Los Angeles Fire Department as a wilderness fire suppression aide based in Malibu, following in the footsteps of his father, who also was a member of the department. Since beginning his career, he has fought two major fires — the Line Fire in Big Bear in October 2024, and the Palisades Fire last month. The Palisades Fire was the most destructive fire in the history of Los Angeles, burning 23,707 acres of land.

“It was very shocking and surprising to see that magnitude of a fire grow that quickly,” Morrise said. “It went from 200 acres to 1,000 acres in an hour. It was insane to witness and fight because a lot of it was at a stage where the wind was doing its thing. It was very intense.”

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Since the fires were contained at the end of January, focus in L.A. has turned toward fire relief and honoring first responders like Morrise. On Feb. 4, Morrise appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! thanks to a foreman at his station who knew he loved the Birds.

Morrise wasn’t expecting anything when he called in for the show — maybe some Eagles merchandise or a signed jersey. He competed against Capt. Roger Todd Peterson, a Chiefs fan and fellow firefighter, to find the most team-colored items at the firehouse. Morrise’s green items included toys from the fish tank and his Carson Wentz Eagles jersey. To his shock, he and Peterson won tickets to Super Bowl LIX — his first Eagles game ever.

“I sat next to an Eagles fan, and it was funny, because I also had Capt. Peterson and his wife sitting next to me,” Morrise said. “The Eagles fan next to me looked at me and he was like, ‘Hey, why are your parents Chiefs fans?’ I was like, ‘Well, they’re not my parents.’ They were probably the only Chiefs fans in our section, so all eyes were on them throughout the entire game.”

Morrise brought his brother, Joe Lucier, who wasn’t an Eagles fan before Sunday — but definitely is now.

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The firefighters got the VIP experience and attended an exclusive T-Pain concert the Saturday before the game and sitting in the lower bowl at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday.

“I don’t do my job to get public handouts. I want to do it so I can assist the public,” Morrise said. “My dad was a firefighter, and I grew up watching what he did for the public and trying to help people, and it really inspired me to do that. But it felt really nice to be recognized and viewed and respected by a lot of people. Tom Brady did a shout-out [on Fox Sports] right before the game, and they all thanked the first responders, and they had a little segment about that, so it was nice and fulfilling to see that.”

And of course, it couldn’t have ended better than with a dominant Birds win. Morrise said he’s hoping to get to see an Eagles game at the Linc soon, but the experience in New Orleans will be hard to top.

“I could not have had a better first-game experience watching the Eagles live,” Morrise said. “I’m pretty nervous to go to my next game now because I’m just expecting that same energy.”