M you're listening to the Getting Salty Experience podcast. No way you go.
Welcome back Gonzo Contopotamus, who's muted again and Lou I'm not muted. They're
not muted. Gonzo is I don't know why. He's got some kind of
bootleg bullshit computer in Florida. He can't mute himself. He's like this,
He's just gonna it's better than he muted. I don't know what is going
on. He's still mute. Let's see how long that list. Anyway,
Welcome back to the show to get Insulting Experienced podcast, so fire related stuff,
all the best guys, the hardest charges yourself. He was waiting.
I don't know what the hell happened, and it was just take it for
River to let me continue. It's okay, Brout. It's a good welcome
back guys, Welcome back, Love Ahead Nation. It's the only one that
brings stuff like that. Yeah, it brings that. Yep, and this.
We had a guy who was actually at that fire on the show tonight.
Brom you could talk about it a little bit. He's a good fellow.
Met him a long time ago, uh, doing some work in his
back yard from you that was him, right, He said, all right,
we're gonna talk with the chief off of me. And we made a
drill out of it. I don't remember what it was. We break up
and a break up a rock or something. I don't know how he did.
I don't know. I don't know. But you know, we have
to do a new segment of the show guns. Right, it's my favorite.
Yes, it's just saying his favorite. Do it? Oh no,
here we go, standby and we go unshy and unfiltered, ladies and gentlemen.
This is Coops his rings. Yes, it's gonna be a new thing.
Yeah, you like it. I mean, shouldn't we talk about that
first. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna throw it out there. So anyway,
I was talking again today to Bobby Birth what a great guy, great
guy, and he gave me a good quote today. He said, verbatim,
this is from Patty Brown when Bobby asked him about all the medals he
had around his neck. Um, Patty Brown, Patty, this was what
Patty said, quote of this, saying, there are many guys with none
of these medals around my neck that are way better fine than me. Bro.
So that leads into another thing that me and Roofy get on all the
time when we get emails. It's something like this, Hey, I got
a good guest that should be great on the show. It would be me,
So I think I should come on your show. So let's go a
little modesty. Is the world of the day humility, right, because we
find that the best guys that come out on the show, of the guys
that are the most that's funny, humble guys. And I have one more
thing, you know, I got on what I do here. I got
on my boy Jeremy from NFL last week. I was a little harsh.
So I just want to say this to him. I just want to sack
on the bottom of me. I'd like to take this chance to apologize nobody.
And that's all I gotta say. Now. I like Jeremy, You're
a good guy. I was. I was only drinking. I was all
like Kenning, I was on the kidding. Oh right, that god she
reborn charger bro. He changed his name. So maybe he's coming out of
the closet, tootums closet, whoa, whoa, Wait a minute, it
doesn't have to be that closet. Wow, come out and produce a closet.
I mean there's a lot of that closet going around nowadays, but I
didn't mean that clout. He's falling into his position here. He's smooth now,
bro Like for the first day he said, fuck the paddock mode.
You know, well it doesn't work. Yeah, well she just came in
here. Now you didn't hear us, I'll like get out of here.
All right, let's stop. Let's let's do up plugs gon, So we
get our guests in here. Wait, somebody's plugging up something here. Hold
on there, he goes. Sorry, the mic from the background there was
hitting as well, little suth. All right, let's get up plug in
here. We want to hear from Mike. You're ready do it. If
you're looking for a gift for that special firefighter in your life, then head
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I think we're done. Far from it. We got toiletry gear bags,
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Just head on over to get in Salty Apparel dot com. That guy is
smooth too, bro, it's like velp, He's like beautiful that mcbob,
he's smooth. Gonzo still muted, So we'll have to Okay, here we
goes. You gotta wait to the few. Ill send him a few dollars
from new computer or something brought. I don't know what we just can I
just do like the mind things by sitting the chair communicate that way, it
might not be so bad if he's moved. Yeah, what are you trying
to say? I talk a lot. You can reach it for another one?
What I get your one? All right? How do you is that?
It's all the plugs we got. No, I just want to remind
people about the super Chat. If they want to support us, ahead and
hit us up in the super Chat, especially tonight. Our guys were hitting
us up in the chat already about what a great guy we have on tonight.
So if you guys want to support us or ask a good question,
we'll get get an answer. So hit us up in the super Chat.
Danny Williams. Danny Williams do they talk to today? His brother? Is
it the Williams from Rescue one? Not the one from sixteen shruck? What
the hell am I it is? Uh? Yeah, uh no, No,
Davy Davy Williams from Rescue one. He wanted to give us three forty
three dollars in the stupid check. I told him absolutely not. He collected
them from selling some coins and he wanted to do it in the name of
the of the guys who we lost on I love but I said, listen,
donated to you know, some widows or something like that. But great
guy. I love him. He's gonna be on the show soon. Rescue
one very talented man. All right, cons running off, fellow, I
want to know what I want to see? What the audience's first responses when
we bring on our guests, and I think that might be something similar to
this. But all right, all right, coming to the stage, you
find a frond of Greg Bruno. Very yeah, everything selves, but I
don't know. Thank you very much, thanks for having me on. So
let's let's see what the audience picks up right here, powerful fox treatments.
There you go, brot all of the curtains. I don't you know.
I should put you guys together so they can I think I think my wife's
a better talking about babies up there. Yeah, tassels hanging from those tasks.
Wait a minute, on brow, Yeah, we go to side.
Come on, I don't know Greg. If I would have known, I
would have had a dress him up for you. No worries the same interior
designer. Yeah, gin Zoe, that's a gin Zoe problem. All right,
Before we get it to mister Bruno's career, here, we have to
do a patriotic duty. I said duty, Yes, you dude, that's
a New York thing. Somebody gave my wife a hard time the other days.
Is what do you guys say, duty? It's supposed to be a
New York thing. Yeah, all right, stam, here we go.
Oh can you see by the dawnsly light? What so bridly we held at
the twine lights, lastlyming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the paralless find
or the rampart wee watched were so gallans lee streaming, and the rocket racklad
the bones busting gay froof through the night that our flag way there, Oh
save us that StarSpangled bend or the land, oh the freend and no home,
oh the brand and Gonzo. You know what, We're gonna have to
have a replacement for Gonzo while he's muted. I think it's gonna be this
guy. And here's Gonzo. All right, mister Bruno, let's go back
at the time here. I think you're from our neighborhood. That's where I
first met you. I don't know if you were born and raised there,
but no, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, Niga and benson Hurst,
and at the age of five, at the age of five, we
moved from Marine Park and then later on before I got on the fire apart
my head, moved to Howard Beach and then from there we ended up in
Masspeth, and that's where I met you and all that time. Once I
got on the job, it was traveling from mass but to Snider Island.
Snider Island, Snider Island followed the smoke followed the nobody. That's good for
you, that's right. What do you have the you have an Iraq or
what were you driving? Yeah, no doubt, right, come on,
yeah I had the lean. Now I have a car that I don't have
a lean, But yes you did. Did you have the h What is
the thing hanging from the mirror? The pepper? Pepper? Yeah? Actually,
actually, actually the first time I drove, I had a boss that
didn't go for that kind of stuff. But I did come in with the
fuzzy dice and and the and the pepper and the first thing he said me
get that shit out of the rig. So it had to go and that
was it. Yeah, that was my first experience. Yeah, I had
hanging in the front and then he said get that out of here. And
as the run came in, I said, you have the keys And I
looked over him. I said he had the keys and he looked at me
like what. So we had a little little fun with that. It was
good. Um, what did you do that? What did you do before
you got on the fire department. Before I got in the fire department,
I was in the local union of six I wait in the Copentes union and
I could but cement, would you? No? No? No? I
did drywall and uh. Then I went out to do the furniture panels in
the offices. But my ultimate goal was a fire department, for sure.
I got bit at a very young age. You did no, yeah,
No, you had any any family on the job or yes, yes,
I had. My father's brother. My uncle was back. He retired in
like nineteen sixty nine. He was in one seventy two truck and he ended
up working in one oh three as a punishment one oh three two, And
he figured at that point he could do whatever he wants, because what the
hell else are they going to send? Yeah, and then my father,
my father got on in nineteen seventy and unfortunately got laid off seventy five I
believe it was, but I think it was only laid off for like five
six months. And then he got reassigned from three thirty one seventy two and
Benson Nurse, where he started. He ended up going the ladd of three
wonderful experience. He said, every kind of building you can think of.
Uh, you know, they had rear tenements, high rise, they had
everything. Worked in Alphabet City and then he eventually transferred to Brooklyn to one
fifty six where he finished his career. But he was part of the war
years and five stars. Yes he is. Yeah, he's been around long
time and lots of fire So you were always in the firehouse then. Oh
boy, I thought I was born in there, but uh yeah, it
started at a young age low and my father ended up working at one point
where two eighty three was on Bristol Street with Squad four and he would tell
me, you know, ten thousand runs a year and the work it was
unbelievable. So you know, I learned a lot from him and that was
great, you know. But it wanted to be a fireman probably started when
I was about six or seven. The first time I went to that's my
dad right there. Wow. And it's a little story that goes with that.
That actually was the first time I was detailed to drive. I ended
up having to drive one fifty six and uh oh man, yeah, he
came by the firehouse and and of course we got to run right after dinner
and me always used to being in the middle of the front seat. They
didn't have a middle front seat anymore. I said, come on, oh,
man, take a ride and we have him to have a covering boss.
And I looked a him and said, you don't mind you He's like,
no, no, it's fine, let's go. So he took a
ride with us and unfortunately wasn't a job, but worked out good. It
was a wonderful thing for me to remember. You know, how much time,
How much time did he do? He did just shy of twenty three
years he got out one most. Yeah, he worked his ass so if
I'm sure, yeah, man, but uh, you know, good times,
like I said, and he loved Manhattan, you know, nothing like
it, he said, totally different animals, and that he came to Brooklyn
and uh, you know, to me in the beginning, I didn't really
know anything about anything any other borrow but Brooklyn was the thing, you know,
So we can get into that if you want. How that started.
Um, you know, I remember I think it was a Friday or a
Saturday during the Easter break, and of course me my brother hopped on our
bikes go to the firehouse. Sure enough, a run comes in. He
got to go first because he was older, and I'm standing there like,
what what's going on? So go for he comes back sure enough to get
another run. I go for a ride with him and that was it the
first run. Did your brother get on the job. No, No,
he had no desires very well for himself. And I would be like that
was that was awesome? That was unbelievable. He said, I don't see
the big deal, like you know this in your life. This is it.
This is what I got to that point on. It was. It
started out as uh, playing hockey in the street and Brooklyn and Timmy Stackpole
lived on that block. Really, that's awesome, dude. I know his
brother, Mike. I grew up with his sister and every opportunity had got
stop him. Timmy any jobs last night? What happened? What's going on?
And forget the hockey game to try to stick out, you know,
uh, fire duty. Whatever he was talking to me about was interesting.
And then I got a little older and it was going to the firehouse by
myself, and then before long it was getting a car and having a mobile
scanner and drive into the neighborhood trying to beat everybody in it was super Sorry
to say it, but now cats out of the bank. Now I'm retired,
you know. But it started at uh, you know, working and
saving money to get a scanner at home so I could listen and work bad
cat was the lights going a little? Little did I? Little did I
know? Save the money, go to radio shack, running home and plug
it in. Doesn't work. I had no idea. Went back. I
got to buy the crystals. Yeah, you know there was crystals. So
here I have a thing with lights, but I can't get anything until I
saved more money to go and get the crystals. So of course it was
Brooklyn first, then it was Manhattan, and little did I know how much
work the Bronx had. I probably would have been so into listening to what
was going on in the Bronx. And then I didn't know until I got
on the job and worked in Hallam that it got detailed to the Bronx that
it was awesome, you know, so many good things. But that's how
how I got bit by it. And then before long I'm spending nights to
the firehout. So my father wasn't even there. So and the guys are
very guys are very, very receptive to me. I had guys that I
looked up to that I saw them working, Guys like Danny Prince, Garrett
Lindgren, who I know you had on the show. He had mentioned my
dad, superb, superb individual and h was it was nice. The guys
always treated me well. And then you know, later on it was time
for me to get on the job, and the thought was a you know,
do you want to go where I used to work and not cutting my
father any slacked, no kind of work he did. I just wanted to
make a name for myself, you know, so carry the family name and
keep it good. But I don't want anybody giving me preferential treatment because from
this guy's son. It this guy is this guy and by the way,
he's his son. Yeah, you know, so that was good. But
how did you. Let's tell us how you got to one seventy four.
Don't tell me about the preferential treatment. About what I should tell you a
real quick story about getting on the job. First Kevin, Um, Kevin
not necessarily, not really, not necessary. Yeah, but what happened was,
Um, I went to take the test and I was running out the
time that I was going to be twenty eight when I got on the job,
and if I didn't make it, I don't know what life was going
to be for me. Uh So I ended up doing well on a written
test. I went to Pudgy Walsh's class like everybody else, and I'm ready
to go, and I go down in Long Island City and there's this gigantic
guy tell me this test his bullshit. I'm saying, okay, I'm thinking,
look at him. I'm gonna have to shoot this guy. I can't
fight him. Look at the size of him. Well halfway through, he's
out, He's done, and I'm running past. I'm thinking, holy crap,
this guy is done. I'm going to keep going. I get to
the very last part of the exam, where you had to push up on
the door and pull down five times with that weight. Would be one repetition,
one up, five down, two all the way to twenty five will
I get to the last set of five and I push up and I pull
down, and the cable snaps. So I look at the guy like he
says, oh no, I said what I mean, Oh no? I
got like a minute and a half to go. I said, fix it.
Let let's get this done. He says, no, you got to
take the test again. Yeah, that's what I said again. So I
said, well, he says, you could take a rest for a couple
of minutes and sort of thanks. I said, what happens if halfway through
I'm out of gas? He says, then it's over. I saw,
I'll see you in three weeks. I'm not coming. Yeah, I'll be
back in three weeks when I'm well. And sure, sure enough, three
weeks I went back. The guy I was telling you about, the guy
did that went crazy about the cable. So before I started, said make
sure your cables are good because I'm getting through this. And I got through
it, and I was number nine to fifty on the list and everything.
From then I was happiest guy in the world. So that was the first
part. So you were asking how I got to one seventy four. Uh,
those guys that I worked there asked me the same thing. When I
showed up, They said, how did you get here? And at the
time I lived in Howard Beach, I said, well, I took the
conduit to Linda Bull Butard, no, how did you get here? So
then, of course it was by car and they said bullshit, you know.
And sure enough they were like, welcome to one seventy four and the
first guy. You know, I had so many guys that there that was
still answer the question, how did you get to one seventy four? Bro?
I had it. It's like we don't look anything over here. I
mean I had someone very special to me look out for me that was that.
Yeah. But and he wanted to make sure that I learned the right
way. So go to a place that has a tremendous reputation that you feel
you're gonna learn and if you, if anything, you're going to make that
place better when you left. And that was really really the goal that I
did. Wherever I worked right, well, what many people do I mean,
that's Jimmy Graham was there. I was lieutenant there. Jimmy Graham was
one of my bosses. Blum Blum. We had Captain Bill I'll give you
a list of the guys that were my first bosses. I had Captain Roger
Biela, Jimmy Graham, Tom Riley, and Brian Foley. All great guys,
all kinds of guys that anybody in the fire department would know their name.
And uh, I had great senior men there, guys to to mention
um, not to get off the subject of what you did. But I
had super duper guys like Eddie Maynett and Lenny Stromstead. Steve Hollman welcomed me
with hello, asshole every time they walked in the door, and I was
happy to get I was happy to be the guy that if they were doing
that to me, they must have liked. You were happy ken tomorrow,
go back over again tomorrow, I my honor. I would Greg, I
say all the time, that would be if I had a pick a place,
after all the time and everything I've seen, I would probably say one
seventy four, just because they were doing the work and they didn't have projects,
and it was a tight house and they were kind of out of the
way. You know. Rescue takes a long time to get there and squad
a long time, so you really don't have it's it's your show, you
know, you know a little if we got something down to Canarsi or up
on Utica Avenue, if by time they showed up and they were able to
go to work, as you say, we weren't doing so good, you
weren't doing so good, and then it was time to work with them,
but they had the utmost for us could have been at the pin job.
They were ready and waiting. But as long as we had everything we needed,
they would give you. They would give you the respect to do the
job first. And that's I thought. That was great. Um So as
far as oh, John Doug Grosso, to this day, him and my
daughter, him, his daughter and me share the same birthday. He tries
to beat me and call me John the wonderful man. Um So, I'm
trying to go through my notes here and not get a little missed up.
I was talking about Timmy Stagpole and Danny Prince and my father of course,
tremendous influence on me and uh, Garrett Lindgren uh and then of course would
get in the scanner the world of Warren Fuchs another I tell you, for
a guy who was not on the job, he couldn't have loved the fire
department more than anybody I met. And like I would say, he probably
made more funerals for nine to eleven than some of the guys could. Between
working on the pile and doing we had to do. He was there all
the time. So kudos to Warren. Great how long to take it?
How long going to take you to catch your first job? When you got
there, you remember, yes, I do, I absolutely do. First
day, nine o'clock in the morning, I'm there at quarter after six,
and of course I walk in. The guys are coming down. What are
you doing here, asshole? It's only quarter after six. So it started
off good. First running. The day, I'm hyped up. I was
hoping something and the guy says, we're going to the rock. You gotta
be kidding me. I just spent thirteen weeks there and then you my whole
first day tour is going to be. And back then we had the books,
so you had to go and take a test. I'm like, this
is I can't understand this. So we go and ull come back and have
lunch, have a couple of runs. Everything was all good. Five o'clock
in the afternoon, we go to Rutland Houses basement fire. It was one
of the down apartments. Unbelievable feeling all the times I rode watching fires.
Now you're you're right there and couldn't have been an I add the can,
I add the can and coming up into the third floor because it was the
first third, sixth and ninth floor was the only way to get into those
buildings would come out of the staircase and he had just popped the door lights
out and did our job. You know, it was fine, very uncomfortable
situation to be in, but you learned, you know, you saw how
guys operated. He went back, You tried to ask some questions, far
from knowing what you needed to do. But we'll take one day at a
time, one step at a time, and it progressed. Everything got you
know, as time goes on, you get a little comfortable, and then
the guys kind of put you in check and they let you know what we
have to do. But what I do have to say about some of the
other guys that I worked there with was guys like Lieutenant Harris, Richie Savarese,
Tommy Woods, Tommy Daley, Gary Not, Tommy O'Day, Karen Tilduff
was a battalion chief up in the nineteenth battalion. All these guys were superstars,
and who better could I learn from. I just watched the way they
operated. I watched even when we had a covering boss. You know,
you would as time went on, I would remember back and say, hey,
a guy came from the bronx and he's screaming at the people, you
know, get out of the way and do it. And they were senior
guys there who actually took the reins and say, hey, boss, we
treat the people around here wonderfully. We have a great rapport with them.
There's no reason to yell at them. They're calling us, they need us.
We're here and we're going to do the job. And the reputation that
they had meant a lot to me, you know. It meant that you
were able to have the respect of the guys before you live up to what
hard work they put into making this place the way it is, and for
the new guys to come to see to carry on that tradition. And I
think it's like that throughout the fire department, in all the places I worked
in. And you know, one of the things I try to instill in
the younger guys is always to make the place better. Try to take of
a way to make it better, to make that company reputation as good as
it could be. Be professional when you go outside, do the right thing
by the people. Everybody loves fireman. We're not there to give them a
hard time. We're there to help them. So that was what I thought.
So just to ramble on and go further. I mean, of course
I had other bosses after those first flour that I talked about. Jimmy Harris.
I don't know what this say about him. That guy would go to
the fire in the middle of the ocean. How how every time I worked
with him, work every time? And yeah, and then you get guys
that like Tom frizz alone was on the hockey team. Is the friends you
know him for one o three and even going to one forty talking to some
guys that played with him on the hockey team, we were both feeling the
same way. That's one of the toughest guys I've ever met. Not a
very big guy. No, he won't take shit from anybody. On the
one time he's in the four one in chief. Now his sons one yeah,
his son's on the job, and I was very happy to hear that
his son's gonna follow in his footsteps, because why I have two great guys
from the same family where his one on three Yeah, and uh, great
great guy had Danny Danny Monday went on to be a chief. George Healey
is a deputy in the thirteenth, Joe Duggan's in the deputy, uh,
Jimmy Canty, Bobby Adams, Rebel, all top notch guys, all guys
that you could do whatever you need to do because they know you're going to
take care of them. And every boss they came through there wanted to be
there because they saw how they operated and they saw that the work gets done.
And you know, I'll talk a little later about I was never a
boss, obviously, but I think it's so much easier to be a boss
in a place that runs itself. Oh yeah, I mean, you know,
all your job is right exactly, and you just carry the light and
if there's any paperwork to be done, you take care of it and you
make sure you pay us and that's it. I always say if some of
the questions that would come occasionally, not often, but if if a question
came to me, I'm like, this is not something I should be dealing
with, right. This is what the guys should be all the girls,
whatever, they should be dealing with it. It should this should never come
up to the offer. You know what I was told. If it gets
off to the first step going up to the office, there's something wrong.
It's got to be handled my d floor, because once it goes upstairs,
you can't ask that guy to do any favors for you because he's got to
do what he's got to do. If it's taking care of downstairs, it's
done. I also say, like, you know, I'm sure wants of
any phone. When you got that, there was a ton of guys with
fifteen twenty twenty five years, right, I think I was the first.
Yeah, I think I was the first probe there in about ten or twelve
years. Yeah. Yeah, So that's my point is, but not every
house, you know, I remember going to house is looking at the at
the riding list, and that top guy might have nine years on the job,
you know what I mean. So that that's where you have a little
bit of you know, problem with the guys running the house, you know,
because I remember respect so much. Maybe Yeah, I remember nights or
days working there where I was a junior guy obviously, and the four guys
that were on the backstep and driving had ninety years experience between the four or
five of them, and the boss had ten years and I had three days.
You know. It was incredible, But what a wonderful place to work.
Uh, if anybody in it could ever get to a place like that,
it just makes your career so much better because where you go, you
get respected and hopefully you bring the knowledge to the new guys to other places
and it helps. It helps everybody get their job done to go home to
their family. So a lot of guys don't know about the rotation that was
in the city at that time because I think I was. I was a
year before you. So, um, guys had to do a year.
He's your bob. Ohly, shit, he's my bob. What Yeah?
Um, but you had to go to a different firehouse for the first three
years you're in your and actually to another one, and then you're the third
one and you go back to Yeah, it was like an ABC thing at
that time. At that time, somehow one seventy four was considered to be
trucks on You know, I hate a Grand Slam because I got two hot
hitting places and one that I had to slow down a little bit at,
which was fine with me. So where did you go on the first rotation?
First? I went to three thirty one engine on course Bate Boulevard and
the job, Yeah, and it was fantastic. Yeah, yeah, we
did. We actually held the light and got some crabs, make crab sauce.
We did the Italian thing. But things were good there because you know,
Kevin, you you realize as a young guy that there's a place,
like you say, there's an answer for every seat, seat, for every
ass or whatever. Uh. You saw guys that would talk about the real
busy time and you really enjoy their stories and you learn from them, right
and you and you did what you could by walking in and you ended up
it. There's a detail tonight. What's the detail? I'm thinking, you
know, what can I do for you? Two seventy five? I got
it. I got it. I'bouted two seventy five and it was a single
engine at that time. And I'm telling you I probably went there five night
tours in the year that I was there, and every single night there it
was Paul box E rs no contact opened the door years ago. You're like,
what was smelling it? Guys are getting dressed, you know, bang
bingo. It was great, um, you know, but I rotated with
some great guys too. I had Ron Daily, who you know from Rescue.
He was in my Kobe class. Oh he left for I'm telling you
the greatest show warner at this job. Really, I had uh. I
had Patty Patty Sheridan who was now deputy in the fifteen I had uh Um
Dominic Bertuccio is a captain again. Yeah, well you know what you're going
to Howard should have to go a few vowels in there. No, yeah,
so it was good. Yeah, so I enjoyed it. Did you
do the cooking? Then? What did you? I did some? I
did, you know my share? I did was always ready to help,
but there were some All the guys who came in before they got up in
the morning know what they wanted and wanted to get. It was fine,
No, no, no meat loaf. Maybe the day you had to shoot.
You know, I can tell you a funny story about three thirty one,
and not about them personally, but back then we only had the one
radio that the control guy had and uh one of the bosses had to go
to the division to get his TPRs taken care of, and me and the
young guys were looking around, Oh, look at this place of divisions.
Here, this is pretty cool. We go outside, What the hell's the
engine? We had to run back to get back to our area. And
all of a sudden they said they got the wall bounce and they didn't hit
the door open. They looked back and they left us there. They had
to come back to They had to come back to two seventy in a hurry
to get us, and they're trying to get us on the radio, but
the one radio is so far away, couldn't get us. So that was
that was one funny thing over there. Um trying to think, oh,
not to skip back, but um, not to leave out three ten to
me, one of the greatest engine on the job. Guys were fantastic.
We had Patty Clifford was a captain when I got there. We had Eddie
Geiger in that picture right there, great friends of mine, Lendy Strumpstead one
of my mentors in the middle, and a good friend Jeff Jeff Miller,
captain of one hundred and today one hundred and a captain. How about that,
you know? And and I talked with him all the time, and
we talk about he's in that picture on the right, and every guy in
that picture Jeff was a captain. Everybody to my right lieutenants. So that's
how it went for me. So I just didn't have the time to study.
But I think I would have enjoyed that very much. Anybody to do
with their hands, you know, right, you know, not everybody could
be the boss. You're right. But I had Guy's a getty guy Goo
who was there for twenty years as a lieutenant getting back to the truck real
quick. Two captains in thirty plus years in that company. And if that
doesn't say something about that company, I don't know. What does you know?
And when cap'n Bale left, he said, uh, see why I
can get for you, And he ended up hitting a grand slam and Patty
McAvoy coming and I was like, it was Patty McAvoy. And then another
one hundred and three guy, another guy as tough as you want to you
want to make them to be. And I've had discussions with him, and
he was the most fair boss you could ever work with in my in my
eyes, he was. He was good. He taught you, he expected
you to do your job, and everybody falling in his footsteps and made him
made his job easier. Hopefully, I think we haven't. We had a
picture of him, don't, Yes, I sent you one of him.
Captain. Yeah. He sent the son to now he's in rescuer. I
got right, Yeah, he just got promoted. Yes. And we had
Tommy Brunton, another another hard hitting guy in the engine. Uh. We
Captain Lieutenant Moody got promoted and we lost him. He was in Hasma that
day in nine to eleven. Uh. And you as you said, John
del Grasso, Kevin Uh. And then we had Captain Vincent and Captain Walls.
Uh. Captain Walls is now a deputy in the eleventh. All guys
that future stars, you know, they were superstars and then they went on
to be you know, you know metal when it's like, you know,
you couldn't ask some better people, you really couldn't. So that was my
first little bit of my first job and the guys I worked with, and
what a blessing it was to be there for the time I was there.
As far as the rotation, I kind of think that, I mean,
to me, things happen for a reason. No rotation, some other guys
would have been alive, and some of the guys worten us. It's a
weird thing the way it happens. You know, we always say that,
but you know, I thought a year in the year was a little bit
much. I did six months and six months. But you know, you're
working, you end up working in three different burrows, you end up meeting
at least one hundred more guys because you're working in two other double houses.
And like we always say, you know, you don't have to see a
guy for a long time and then all of a sudden running too him,
like yesterday. Yeah, you know it's funny. My brother in law,
Jimmy Carroll, great, great guy. He goes to Costa Rica every year
and lo and behold. Every time he goes there, we'll put on an
FDNY shirt and he runs into somebody who's a famous guy, or hey,
do you know this guy? And he's so proud of the fire department,
And you know he would have been My brother wasn't a fireman. He was
just your shirt. Yeah, yeah, no, he would wear and a
shirt. And when he goes shurf in Costa Rica and you're here right out
of the country and you're running into two or three guys at the fireman,
it's just it's just unbelievable. Um. And as far as you know,
like I said, I talked about guys that were influencing me. Um,
and then you talked about the chiefs and the battalions you running in. We
ran in with the three eight, the four four to four one in the
five eight was my battalion. We had superstar chiefs like Chief Leoc, Chief
Fire Vola, and Ike Johnson. Uh, Chief Richardson was in the three
eight, Chief Kill Duff. These are guys that went on to be to
be the you know the guys that the big of course man, they're in
the whalehouse, you know, they're they're steering the ship. And the funny
thing is, you know, I'm a I'm a guy like I It's hard
to remember guy's name for so long, and you get a guy like Chief
Killed Duff. It's like ten years later, Hey Greg, how are you
doing? I'm like, hell, does guy remember my name? He's incredible,
that man. But I'm just saying that they're dealing with dude just stole
my thoughts because Louie knows him his head. But you know, I called
Chief Buff, I've always called Chief Field Duff. But like I said,
I had I had superstar guys even in three thirty one. Kenny Loregan was
in two ninety. He recently passed away. Guys like George Barr. The
guys just took you under your wing and they wanted to make you feel as
comfortable as you could being in being in an uncomfortable situation. You know,
they open your arm. That's the fire Department's all about you. I remember
when guys were coming through. I went to one seventeen and ninety three and
I remember guys coming through the rotation and you know, guys would be on
that third stint, right, so they'd have three years on the job,
but it almost felt like they were were a prob kind of corn un was
a new thing. So it's kind of an awkward situation because they're not prob's,
no, just you know, they were trying to learn. And you
know, Louis uh, it brings you bring me to a good point when
I my third stop was sixty nine Engine in Hollom and my first nozz A
job. Of course, you'll always remember your first job or your first nos
a job, or what position you had in the truck. My first nos
A job Patty Brown, my captain. Wow. Really doesn't get any better
than that, brother, No way, no how. And then I worked
with superstars there too. I had Timmy Klett who you had on the show.
UKT. Morris was in the truck. I had guys like Jimmy Corney,
Eddie ends Alone, Robert Dirk, who brought Robert Derker to me.
Was this guy had a work ethic like I've never seen before. He would
he would come and you get up from a bad night and and coming down
the stairs and he's got every tool out and he's working every tool and he's
cleaning every tool. I'm like, this guy's not a probe. This guy
and the junior guy, this guy wants to know that that tool is going
to represent his company when he goes out the door, and that job is
that tool is going to get the job done. The guy he just to
work ahol. I admired him so much. I really did. Guys like
Kevin Hayes Myk's John Tobin went to rescue one of lieutenant and m and being
up when I was up in sixty nine. We could talk about that.
I learned. I was introduced to Father Judge, and Father Judge really a
fantastic person. Really, you know, we had the Memorial Day breakfast every
year and I met him and we were talking and you know, I said
to him, we had my wife's daughter had passed away. If you see
a picture, I had him come by. He called up one night.
We're talking on the phone. To the phone, I was asking him a
little bit of some spiritual things about what I was going through with home life.
You know, you lose a child, it's very hard, you know.
Probably a half hour later he showed up at the fire hours he left
there the first street. Yeah, and I only met him on the phone
and didn't meet him in person until he showed up. And he probably sat
in the kitchen for three and a half hours, four hours just talking,
you know, telling me what his thoughts were. And from then on,
you know, and then finding out on nine to eleven what happened to him.
First I was like, oh my god, but one another wonderful person,
you know, and would go to the end of the earth to do
whatever he could to support you because of what you were doing, because what
you were doing was helping the public and doing doing the right thing. So
that was at sixty nine, you know, sixty nine, twenty eight,
all those companies around there. I couldn't say enough about it. You know,
you have a different mentality from Brooklyn, like you know, let's go,
you know, green, green, green, everybody's got to go at
the start of a NASCAR race. But up there you wait on the corner
because fifty nine is coming down the block. You see them, I'm like,
what are they doing? Hold on, brother, what we do there?
Put out the red carpet, Let them go, and you just help
them, and you learned a lot, and you you focus yourself into everybody's
got to work together. It's a team effort. That's really just the way
it is. What what was your job that you had had the first nauzer
job? What was the job that you had? Three street, right hand
side of the street, the second floor, and when you went in,
Cap Morris was in there, and they had like these glass pane doors,
and you had to get enough line to get around the door. And all
I remember is him pushing some guy out and him coming out behind them,
and when he was done, all your saw was the bracket of his coat.
His coat was all yellow, and then when he took his mask off,
your sort of black. So he wasn't leaving without his men and another
fantastic officer and the fire went out. But I do remember three forty five
was one forty fifth Street, second floor, right side that day, way
to work underwear before white, afterwards making it's right a little brown after that.
But it was fun You had you had a lot of work there,
Louis had a lot of vacants. Uh, you had a lot of different
uphill downhill. Uh, some things I wanted used to Yeah, but it
would be funny. You know, you gotta run up the hill and there
eighty and twenty three and sixty nine, You're like, we gotta get out
and push this thing. Ain't gonna make it up the hill. It just
but we got there and and things were fine, and guys are guys were
great. Guys. You tell me, Nicolle, don't worry. I got
this. You know. The funny thing is I worked in fifteen nine at
thirty a couple of times, and I'm sure I ran into him. I
know him by face. He obviously doesn't know me, but I always saw
the intensity at that place, and years later watching him on the show,
I said, that's the guy. Yeah, that's him. God's put up
that thing from QCPS. It's actually pretty funny. Let me go to it.
Come one. Oh we're getting there. That's like I'm still muted.
Here there we go. Sorry, I'm trying to get it all in because
I don't want to forget. You got plenty time and if I don't forget
somebody my apology. No, you're right. Sorry, So he was okay.
This book responds like their mom is on fire. Hallam responds like their
mother in law is on fire. He's got jokes. You got that joke?
What's his real name? Again? If you get Lands the real name,
would you that's wise? QC. Beast? You don't want to be
landis right? Well? Yeah, all right? So anything else about sixty
nine? Any other jobs you want to talk about that standout there? Hey,
Jabs, I say one thing you learned a lot like we used to
go up to the polo grounds. We were first do in some areas and
a lot of times, you know, you'd have there'd be a reador in
the back and it would drive into the complex and their sp was like if
you had a job like on the fourth floor below would be a stretch up
the stairs, which they found to be interesting and something that I took with
me when you came back to Brooklyn. We used to go to like the
Rutland Houses were a little different. But the Glenwood houses there would be a
way. You know, it's only six stories, so they were stretching anyway.
But um, everybody operated differently and he just had to adjust yourself to
what was going on. But like I said, I mean from there,
I would work in uh, you know, across the river in fifty five
truck places like that on a detail and you got to you got to see
a lot of different things like I didn't in the beginning. I was like,
oh, I don't know if I want to go to Manhattan and driving,
but the volume of people and the size of the buildings would you would?
It would change everything. And it made me have such a such a
respect for chiefs because when you think about you say, here's a guy who's
like bread and butter as Brooklyn private dwelling or multiple dwelling, three store two
in the front three and area. What is he thinking? Was the guy
in the roof telling him? And now all of a sudden, you like,
the hell am I gonna do here? You know? And the guys
know what to do. And like I said, that's what makes this job
so unique, where somebody has seen your guys tell these guys what to do
and the ship runs smooth and it makes the balls look good, and you
know what you should make the balls look good. So but I'll get a
chance to work with Morris in the truck at all. I did a couple
of times on details, you know, very intense person. Uh. What
I found great was that there was never a time of day. It didn't
matter what time of day it was for a drill. And what I mean
by that we could something out of the ordinary, could happen at eleven thirty
at night, and we come back and we'll start schooling lock us together in
the kitchen because you had to do something to figure out that if that happened
again, we were going to be ready for it. And sometimes Droe would
least so three in the morning. It wouldn't matter because the focus was you
have to protect you men. You have to if you he was as knowledgeable
as he was, I'm sure he'd be the first one to say that you
can learn something every day. And if I'm going to learn it now,
I got to worry about telling them to my other guys to make it happen.
So that was really good. Um, other guys ahead, I have
a feeling not I didn't want to cut you off. Did you ever have
a feeling that you wanted to stay there? Like, did you ever feel
like you wanted to transfer the sixty nine or you definitely knew I wanted to
go back to one seventy four. You know, I like the truck work
and I like being I was always a Brooklyn guy, you know, Like
like days guys were grooming me to try to be as good as I could
be, and why not do my career that that's what That's what I wanted
to do, you know, So, I mean can't be in two plays
at once. I appreciate all that they taught me. And when it was
time to go back, I was looking forward to going back. You know.
We respected place everywhere, everywhere that I went. You know, I
can't be disappointed. How did you feel when you walked back into one seventy
four for the first time? Ah? Was it weird? Things changed a
little? I mean I always visited, you know, But the thing was
when I went to sixty nine. Patty Brown, first thing he said to
me, they wanted you to put these stickers beneath your proby patch of where
you're rotating through. He to listen, you're part of sixty nine. He
made me put the patch on and it was a great feeling that I was
accepted. And when I went back to one seventy four, I only had
three years on the job. But something's change. Some guys left, some
bosses left, and it was still wanting to do what you wanted to do
to contribute. You always wanted to contribute to the firehouse. So I should
probably bring you to something. You're probably going to ask me about a buffing
machine. I don't know if you have that story, but I could probably
tell you a quick, quick, funny story, okay. And the firehouse
is an old Walker firehouse, you know, like if you've seen the Walker
fires and bathrooms on the left near the pole hole and then you go in
the kitchen. Well, I was always trying to keep the place clean the
best you could, would get the buffer machine from the battalion and scrubbing the
tile floor, and I'm like, the stile floor is just never getting any
getting cleaner. So I decided to rip the tile up. I order rolled
this VCT tile three. It's kind of VCT green and white, checking right
one green one white one green one went and uh, the guy said,
you're crazy. I said, I gotta. I can't live like this.
We gotta make this presentable. So we, uh strip all all the old
tier. They're coming off no matter what. Anyway, and uh it's hot
out that night. It's real humored. I got this glue and was doing
what I have to do, and I'm working my way out and I'm saying
myself, the glue is supposed to turn like a clear for you to stop
putting the tie that. So of course three o'clock in the morning we get
a run. We come back and the guy's like, what are you doing.
I said, I'm not finishing this. I'm not quitting. I'm finishing
this. Guy said, you gotta put a fan on here, make it
dry. I'm thinking maybe a fan. He comes with the smoke ejector and
they plug it in, and all of a sudden, I'm on the decide
with you walking the fire into the kitchen, and of course on the back
wall it's all tacky and there's got six five twos and this and this,
and it comes all I'm looking shut the fan, shut the fan off,
and you're just watching it come down stick stick stick all over my floor.
So I had to do what I had to do, and I had to
just tile over the paper. So with the buffet machine, there was no
reason to try to get the old so clean. So the buffer machine would
be in the back of the firehouse and maybe having a little bit of corpentry
background, we made these nice two by two cubicles on the wall back side
so everybody could fit this stuff. We'd have a little more room behind the
rigs to do some drilling or whatever. So the guys said to me,
Greg, you put the effort in. All the junior guys are at the
top. You pick your spot. So, okay, put the right in
the middle, chest high. Every time I come into work, boom,
I take my stuff. Well, I was the commissar and they wanted to
fire me as the commissar. Okay, thankless job. I bring in.
I bring in the box, you know, cups of dollar a cup,
you know. And I hear them laughing, and I walk in and the
Survivor show or whatever it was where they put the thing over the candle and
they throw you out and I don't remember what the name of that show,
Survivor maybe yeh, Bruno, you'll finish. You're fired like, screw it.
I don't care. They're trying to throw the dollar cups and break them.
Well, I go outside and for like fiftieth time. The fiftieth time,
my stuff is out of my box and this gigantic heavy buffet machine is
in my tilb lowie. I blew a gasket, you know, I was
like sometimes you just I had it. I took the buffet machine and they
heard a row, and I threw it and it ended up with all my
might. I mean, it didn't really heavy, and it hit between the
pole hole and the bathroom and the guys in the kitchen the door was open,
throw and trying to break the cups. They see this fly by and
explode when it hit the wall. I didn't hear any more cups trying to
be broken. And from that day on the guys would say, remember the
buffer machine. So that was kind of, you know, something that was
funny and guys could relate to that. But what about the pork chop?
Pork chops another story. Pork chop is something I can bring, Cat McAvoy
to back me up on this. They brought pork chops. Most of the
firehouse was from Rockaway and breezy, so every function you had, you had
either wore sandals or you had sand in your shoe from a Christmas party or
something. Walking to the church, you're full of sand. So they used
to rave about these pork chops on one hundred and twenty nine Street Belle Harbor
and they would cook them and we get a run. Looked at Paddy mcafoy,
looked at me, the worst pork chops ever had in my life.
They were dry, they were stuffed with stuff. And you were his chauffeur.
I was the show. And uh, They're like, that's the worst
pork chop man, so dry. So every time, of course Greg gets
pork chops, the pork chops, the chop they called it from Rockaway and
I'd be like, you gotta be kidding me. And the fact that I
was driving it wasn't taking details, so I didn't notice. But right on
the top of the oranges on the rig, they took a pork chop and
they tied it and they laid it up there and lo and behold, we
get a run. Onto Like I think it was Nostring somewhere around Winthrop or
somewhere, and a couple of calls. It's like seven o'clock at night and
we're tearing ass down Winthrop and we get to Nostring and I turned onto nostr
in the wrong way and the fire is out like three windows on the top,
and all of a sudden they see this pork shop flying. What the
hell? Yeah, it made it all the way from Snyder in Utica or
fifty first in Utica, all the way to Winthrop and no stream before it
was it was. It was dry. It was cooked and very dry when
it was done, because we beat one thirteen in and there was plenty of
fire out the window. You mean you even let them in first? I
would have, but I didn't. I would have. Those guys are good
guys, all squared away, but you don't see him. When you don't
see him, they're not there's right. But you know, Kevin, honestly,
you ran in with other companies one fifty seven. You know, if
I'm turning in the corner and they're turning the corner, if they're first on
the ticket, I'm putting a stick up and we're going to the floor,
bulls. That's just the way it is. Like, we didn't we didn't
have any problems with with those kinds and even the engine companies. You know,
everybody talks about this engine and that engine. I have to be honest
with you, I really have never seen them guys, even if it was
one hundred degrees out not be ready to go to work. They had they
had their hoods on when it was hot as could be, they had their
gloves, they were buckled up, they pulled up, they up two lines,
smart move weight for the next engine. Everybody worked together, so you
know, they could all say what they want to say about those companies.
And I'm not one hundred percent saying that. Sometimes you can get out of
out of your way and maybe think they did they want something to jap you
out. But they were all squared away. They're fantastic. You know,
I had no problem with them. Maybe maybe there's no that's these are the
older guys. But the next generation after that was the pork. But you
could see my floor. My floor came back, and underneath that there's a
bunch of six five twos, both kinds of things about picnics and parties and
who needs off. It's under the floor up. Yeah, they're gonna see
they're gonna see it. Like in that picture. In that picture, in
that picture you had guns. On the left was Bill with all Billy after
nine to eleven and Bill Duffy about a week or two after that. Great,
great people, great people. Jerry Cavanaugh senior guy in the front there,
John Old Sullivan next to me, my buddy Lenny and uh now Deputy
Chief Linquist, another guy who made it to the top. Another guy,
another guy that I don't think anybody ever said a bad word I was looking
for. Nobody has ever said a bad word about that, gentleman, Mardy
Linquist. I was in my proby class. May Yeah, fantastic man.
Deputy Chief. Yeah, I'm on a stupid podcast. Ye, me too.
Gods, wasn't that. I remember seeing a couple of five pictures.
We got a fire picture in there. We have, um, yes,
we do one. Well, you're gonna work. I'm making these pictures bigger
somehow. I think I seen you one from Ridgewood. I think I did
send you one that was from one forty. Yeah that was a little later
Metropolitan m hm. You know, yeah, yeah, that was a good
one. You know. That was when those those schooters just came out.
Whether people were buying those bathroom. Yeah that was one twenty four. We
were second due to them. Uh yeah, that was a really good job
that you decided to go to one forty at one point, right, yeah
I did. But um, just if you don't mind me backing up for
just a second. Um, we had, you know, going through like
one seventy four. Like I was talking to you about the bosses, I
do have to mention the guy who really landed on his feet and the one
or three is Captain Denny Florenko. Another guy that would do anything for you
and so sorry that he didn't get the spot when he was passing through us.
He was a gentleman from the time I met him to today what I
think he was a triple don't he he was at that time he was in
one twelve, Yes, he was in one twelve when he didn't get the
spot in three ten and uh, super duper guy to this day. I
keep in touch with him, would would do anything for him. Really fantastic,
another fantastic human being. Um, so moving along, Um, you
know he was a lot of good guys that did that. And then you
were asking me about before I leave this segment of one seventy four in that
area. You know, you had other guys on there, a guy like
Captain Calamari one twenty. He'd run in with him. He hated when we
were at two eighty three. He couldn't wait for us to leave two eighty
three. And I'll tell you one I'll give you. I'll give you one
fire story quick. About two eighty three. I'm in the TV room a
little left to twelve, and there was a church right next door. When
you come out of quarters to the left, and two eighty three goes out
on an MS run. So I got to back up. M'm gonna walk
out there, and I'm saying come back soon, like we had. We
were running out our ass off that night, and all of a sudden I
decided to go to the house watch. And as I'm getting close, I
hear on the front door. I might opening the door one two in the
morning, Brownsville. I'm looking out the window. You know, I don't
know what's going on, and I don't see anybody. Again. Now I
hear banging really hard. I opened the door, and the police officer and
he's out of breath. He's like, so I look outside and billow and
black smoke from next door. I said, no problem right there. I
go to grab the mic to tell the guys who got a job next door?
And the tones go off with this. We get the pulling out the
quarters. Give the ten seventy five and putting the stick up one twenty.
Hears it their second due. Now they would have been first due. And
my boss goes in the back and he says, hold up on taking the
windows. Two any three is coming around the corner. The guy has got
up and walked away on the MS run and in they go. I put
the stick to the roof, put the roof man up, and I said,
bosh, you want the windows. He's like, hold on a second.
Now. I said, the water is coming. I hear he heard
the water coming. He says, okay, I take the windows with the
aerial he told the roof guy was moving it. I go up, go
in. The guy that used to roller skate in the front of the firehouse
all the time, sure enough, is laying on the bed. Give it
ten forty five. With this, Captain Calamari's two guys come up and I'm
thinking three, three on one. I gotta get this. I'm thinking,
what's the best thing to do. I gotta you could talkst thing. Yeah,
the best thing is for me to let these guys help me and clear
away, because I know any second that staircase is gonna be full. So
I said, cap, I'm going to clear the stairs. They bring him
down the stairs two fifty seven to the fantastic job, gets his pulse back.
Unfortunately, thirty nine hours later the guy passed away. I don't think
anything of it. Next we go to medal day. That was That was
a job I was at me. That was my I think I would forget
the medal. I wanted the guy to live, but I'm like, nothing
nothing in there about me. So I was like, you know what,
you know, nothing nothing in there about me. Let's no, I don't
care. I was the guy I always thank and Louie mentioned the company.
You don't have to mention. Mention. But it was fun. But we
called an awful lot of work wound. It was a lot of fun.
We had times. By the way, Greg myself, yeah it happens.
But you know the fact of the matter is I want to work together help
the public. That's our job. You know. I wanted to give this
guy the best chance of living, and unfortunately he didn't. But you know,
twenty three you talked about a guy like Bob Sano. I saw him
on the show. I remember working there and being with him for that year.
That's like one of those guys you don't want to you don't want to
disappoint him, even if you're not working in the company. He's on duty
that day and you have so much respect for this guy that it was like
the way it was years ago, Like if you did something wrong and the
senior guy did one of these, you were like, hold, why I
disappoint him? I don't want to disappoint him. So but he was one
of those guys that was would stop, help you, give you knowledge,
give you everything that you needed. And he was a lot of fun to
work with. I had Rob Brown who was in my my Probe classes as
well, Doctor Brown. He was around twenty and then when I went over
to the Battalion for a couple of months before going to one forty, I
got to work with Danny Wetzel and guys like that, and uh, they
were they were super. Yeah, this is the crew back then, like
Steve Holman on the left, one of my mentors, Billy Gormley right next
to me on my right who we lost, just a bunch of really fantastic
guys. I couldn't say enough about him, I really couldn't. Would be
there anytime you needed something, just as as what happened in Privy School.
You know, I had like three weeks left in Privy School when my wife's
daughter passed away. And you know, you don't want to let them know,
you know about the fight. Apartment like to tell you it's better off
you're not saying nothing. When something happened like that, it was like,
what do you need? And I remember Billy Burke, who we lost on
nine eleven. He was a lieutenant in charge of the school, and he
took the two guys that I would travel with. He says, you guys
should take him. You go here. You're here for the family. And
I knew it was my turn where whatever I needed, these guys were going
to be there for me. That's which I knew from my father and the
job that they had because my father. My father was off the day at
the telephone fire, okay, when he was in three truck first due there
he went to one fifty six. He got off the day or the war
bombs fire and I remember him having used to go to the Poconos in the
summers, and I remember that morning him turning around and the TV's saying six
Brooklyn fire fires died on ocean Amnue and he was up and gone for like
a week and a half, you know, all the funerals. So I
knew how that worked with the fire department, and it was unfortunately my turn
too for them to be there for me. So that was, you know,
not an introduction that you want, but so much was done to help
me. And the guy like Billy Burke was like I was more concerned,
like, oh, I got three weeks to go, is this going to
be like the physical where I got to do it over again? He's like,
no, no, we're good. I said, okay. So everything
worked out and then I had the privilege of working guys that you know,
like Danny Murphy. He passed through and I remember driving him a few times
from one seventy four. What a gentleman to me. It's like Roy Hobbs
the Nashville you know, everything he did. I would see him. I
would really I would see him like at a job and pick up a show
for a guy. He's a lieutenant but you see him picking up a show
and walking it over and giving it to the guy. I'm like, that's
Roy Hobbs. That's that's the way it goes. So it was to me.
I had such a pleasure of working with them guys. And then when
I went to on Details, I worked and Rescue one one night and God
rested soul. Joe Joey Angelini in the morning was there. We had a
job that night and I'm holding on the back for dear life, I don't
know what the hell's going on, and he comes in the morning and he's
smoking. What do you got? I looked at the other guy, thought
he was kidding. I mean, I do it as an old guy that
came in on Saturday. Honest to god, I had no idea. And
they're like, they're like, no, no, he's the real deal.
Say I got the roof brother ride safe and off I went. And that
was the only encounter I had with him. But hearing the stories about it,
and I can remember back and say, wow, that guy was.
That guy was awesome. You know other guys that When I went to Rescue
four, I worked with Mike Milner and then yeah, we go, we
go, We go to Mama MutS for lunch. Never I lived in Queens.
I lived in Queen Masspeth when I met you, Kevin, and I
didn't even know that that place existed. And it was funny. I said.
John Gaye was working and a couple other good guys, and I said,
hey, you guys ever going to Manhattan? You know? Like it
said, oh, yeah, sometimes, but not not that often. Well,
five minutes later, we get a run for scaffold, something falling off
of scaffold, and here I am in the back, they're all in the
front. I'm holding off for day life. John's driving. I think that
the pain's coming off the side of the rig. And we we go down
through this tunnel of Queens Boulevard and we get into Manhattan. And that was
before they had Vanderbilt Avenue closed off Park Avenue. And I'm coming up to
forty second Street and some car decides to not give him the right away,
and I see him go to stop, and we feel a little bump and
I'm looking and there's a car spinning them at the end of it. And
ended up only being like a piece of wood that fell off the scaffold,
but it was a windy day like in February, and I just like I
said about all of those guys in in those sock companies, like I respect
them, it's not something i'd rather be the guy busy place, pull up
out the window. You're getting the numerous calls and you're getting all lamped up.
It is different. I mean, you're going a lot more work,
but i'd like to be I don't wish to fire in anybody. I don't
want to wish to fire in anybody, but it's gonna happen. I want
to be, hopefully part of the solution. And certain things that they did
didn't appeal to me. I don't even like going to the beach mind schoolba
diving, you know, so I'm not doing that. I don't want to
do that. I want to do something different. So that was, you
know, part of the things. But there are guys how's your how's your
power? Gregor my power of a good? Well? Good? Uh?
They met me talking? Sorry, Okay. Then I had like Ryan Warnock,
who unfortunately got hurt rescue. One before Ryan went to rescue, I
remember having a job where he pulled another fireman from one seventy out of the
cock loft. The guy fell right into the cock loft and we were inside
trying to pull the seals to give the engine some room to get in there.
And Ryan wasn't the biggest, heaviest guys. Kind of thin How he
got this guy out of there, I don't know, but kudos to him.
And that was just one of those things where he was not leaving and
not helping that brother out. It's just the way it goes. So I
got to work with some really really awesome guys, um and that probably takes
me up to go into the five Talian? Is that right, Kevan?
Yeah, okay, I had some issues. My wife unfortunately got sick for
a while, and uh, you know, it's hard to all it went
through. It was hard to It was always good, and you always was
taught to leave all your problems at the front door of the fire ass,
you know, because when you go to work, you gotta have your head
on straight. You got to try to do the right thing, and uh
uh, you know, things happen and you get lost a little bit,
right right, And I understand when I went to the battalion and then I
decided to go closer to home. I hope I didn't want to hurt anybody's
feelings and want seventy four or three ten. I mean, who would not
want to stay there for their whole life. I want to go back and
do it again, you know. But I remember, I think it was
John Viggiano was driving him one night one seventy six, and the kitchen and
were talking about something and he said, listen, family, company, fire
department in that order. So it always resonated with me that your family always
comes first. So I was being a little selfish of being far away,
not that many miles away, but if something happened to take you an hour
to get home, so it was time to go closer to home. And
I went to the five eight for a while. I tried that out,
and I didn't like going to fire as with a clipboard and watching these guys
do what I want to do. So thank you, but no thank you
guys in two fifty seven one seventy hats off to them. Fantastic group of
guys. Unfortunately went through some really hard times. But they know they're real
type. You know, they're real type. Place, they go on vacations
together, they do everything as you would, better than some people that I
know they're actually brothers and sister you know, like a really really good,
good bunch of guys, you know, and even respect. Like I said,
guys that I missed that moved on guys. Every twenty four partner I
had Louis went out to be at least a captain or more. I don't
know how that happened, but it did. And guys, like, like
I said Jeff Miller night, I could be more more proud of that guy
as my twenty four part and as my friend. Seeing him loved this job.
It was like it was like me looking at myself, you know,
like this guy will do anything for his men, and I'm sure those guys
will do anything for him. But he knows this place as good as it
is, it's going to get better with me here, and and that's a
great, great thing. Um. So that's what we talked about when I
when I met you in the bar and all the other stuff on nine eleven.
But then I went to one forty and the guys have won forty open
their arms to me. I need. I needed to go somewhere close,
didn't. Yeah, I didn't want to bring my any baggage with me,
and I just said, look, you know, I'm an old guy.
I'm riding out the rest of my years and I want to be close to
home. And it was like a last minute transfer, so understand the way
they came from with Prie Horde. Hell is this guy? You know,
he didn't even come here and say hello, And I didn't. I didn't.
I got a phone call, hey, Greg Tuesday one forty I said,
Chief, it's Friday. It's Monday night. He says, yeah,
tomorrow morning, you're going book six. So I had to show up with
a nice, you know, breakfast in bagels, and I'm the new old
guy, and anybody want to go home? And of course, and of
course I know nobody in the kitchen and you could hear a pin yeah,
yeah. And then the funny thing was like, I think I told you
this story privately. You know, guys says asked me if the I laughed
all the time. He says, he fires really hotterman Brooklyn. I was
like, crap, it's starting and already, like I thought the kitchen one
seventy four was tough. This, I said, uh no, bro I'm
sure just as hot and queens. But there's a lot more of him over
there, so you should have probably wanted to go over there when he came
out of prophy school. And then after that that was really just a test
and h The funny thing was it was a guy who was a lieutenant who
came from one two thirty one. Yeah no, And when he saw me,
he says like, hey, Greg, welcome to one forty. You
want to take the ions today? And I looked at the guy and I
was like, yeah, I'm not going to say no. Why want not
to take the ions? Uh? And it was funny because we want to
go on to our first run and it was smoked from a house and on
the Brooklyn side. You know, he had to switch to Brooklyn because we're
right near the two weeks. And I keep looking and he keeps looking at
me. I guess he's testing me. You know what is what's is fantastic.
I love the guy now. I really do get along great with him.
And uh, i'd say, Junior, did you get better buckle up
going to book? And the funny part was it wasn't a job, but
you know, we got the point across, and I guess he realized,
you know, I've been around a little while and I kind of know when
you breaking my shoes and when you're not. So it was it was all
fun. I really enjoyed that. Um we talked about this to the pre
show. I don't know that they are so close on the border. I
don't know how they don't go to more work. I don't know what keeps
them in out of that that area for work. I mean, you know,
Kevin, it's like when you always say, when Louis says, with
any place you go to, that's the best place, or that's the place
I want to be a part of, or that's the place I love.
And they welcome me when I needed to be welcomed. And they're great guys
everywhere you go, even in the best places. We said, we said
that you're going to find a guy that you want to say, listen,
take your cheesecake, just pack up, you don't belong here and go somewhere
else. And these guys are really great guys. They're good flyman, they're
energetic. The young guys. I can give you a list of guys that
are in that place that I could see being bosses. And I'm so proud
of him because it gave me the opportunity to give to them what I wanted
to And then you bring in things like YouTube and diamond plate and you're watching
videos and all of these things that were taught to me telling me what would
happen from these guys that were super fined in one seventy four. Now you
could see it and stop it and say, hey, look at the color
of that smoke, or look out whether things being pressurized. Do you see
they cut They must have cut the roof because from outside you could see it
drawing back a little bit and then it start getting that that grayish and then
start chugging. You're like, if you got to make a move, you
better move because you're you're you're gonna be in trouble. Now. Back years
ago they told me they'll be yelling, hey, idiot, get out of
there. That's that's no good. So you're able to do this. And
these young guys I felt were really good to me and they wanted to learn.
But Louis, it's like everywhere else. I think that they should go
to a lot more work in the position there and I know guys could drive
up forest there when you can get the forest and Myrtle probably would hitting the
lights and probably beat myself, but for some reason, but for some reason
doesn't happen the time talking about there was some boxes that you'd be one twenty
four and two exactly exactly, and you know it's really hard. They got
a very big rig and those corners people, there's so many people that lived
there. They park on the corner and you can't make that turn. And
if you do make the turn, you have it to be going down to
block the wrong way. If that engine didn't get enough room to get that
hydrant. Now you head to head with the other truck company. And when
things stuck going bad, they stuck going bad, not slowly. It's boom
boom, and all of a sudden you got three, three major problems instead
of just one. Bliss they have like a really I mean most of the
Queens does anyway. But you know they in that area there right right across
the street, right behind Carvel right, that's all frames back there right man.
And in Fairview that's all frames there. And then you got commercials.
If you got commercial yeah, yeah, go down, go down past Flushing
on Metro right there first and there right, that's all factories there west and
beef all that crap over there right down by by the bridge over there by
two oh six. You know, those jobs are the jobs you don't really
you know, I'm going down there, no know, like they could get
shitty. And you know, we used to go to a place on Utica
Avenue all the time for an automatic. Alombent was a plastic company and it
as much as I love going on fires, yeah, I think, I
hope I'm off to day that this thing goes because this has got black lung
and cancer written all over. How many times I went to that recycling There
was like a recycling plant over there somewhere, and the junkyards over there.
We used to go to those at a couple of times a year. You
know, place a phone that made foam, Yeah yeah, right near the
cemetery on the horse yeah yeah, yeah, screw that place. That's where
you live right up this That was where I first lived and then then moved
to the other side when we bought the new house, which was with Grand
and Flushing met and I had a back porch that had like this iron staircase
and we're going to put a deck and all that stuff. And I was
like, leave the platform for my to build off of. But the steps
are going to be in a way, and I'm thinking, how am I
gonna get rid of this? I'm like, these guys probably want to use
their tool and have fun. Why not ask them? And then you guys
came over and sure enough with chief off. Yeah, I think so that
was great. There was a yeah, it was a metal staircase, like
a metal like landing for a deck. They just drow it on there.
Instead of making a nice wood deck in the back, they put like a
metal deck, steel and a steel staircase coming down. And I'm like,
it's in the way. I need to get rid of this so I can
build off of this staircase, put the post in the ground, making nice
deck, put a pool in the yard. And I was like, I
asked those guys that you want to come and have a drill or do something.
I gotta get rid of this. I sure shit, don't have a
I think to burn it myself. And they came with every kind of tool
that they wanted and they had fun, and I was more happy to do
whatever I could do for them. Yeah, it was good, um,
But before I had too, my father was there in two ninety one of
my uncle was in one forty. I think he retired with like forty four
years or something like that from one forty. Yeah, I tell you,
like I said so many, I'm gonna get to these guys because I don't
want to slide anybody, And if I ever did throughout the show, I'm
sorry, but I mean the way this job is. You guys know you
could meet a guy from out of town and become best of friends with him.
You know, I ever got a friend, Scott Laprade who was from
uh Lem Lemons to Fire Department of Massa. Yeah, I'm sure he is.
Scottie is an awesome dude. And he used to bring his son,
Mikey as a picture there of me and Mikey when he was really young.
And Mikey grew up and he Mikey grew up to be a fireman. He
was on the show with Captain Dugan from one twenty three, and that was
Mikey when he was a kid. And now now Mikey's all grown up.
He works for the Auburn, New Hampshire Fire Department. That's Mikey build the
house is that he's got a forty four truck. I saw that on the
fineteen seventy eight and he's making a bar out of it. How great is
that? That's cool man. Yeah, I saw the Yeah I saw he
made the forty four chilled. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's Scotty
right there. Another wonderful human being I saw always in the chat. It's
always like your face to the guy's name in the chat. Yes, yes,
he's a good guy. And they're down in Florida. Now. I
think he had his first grandchild, and uh, fantastic for him. He
took so many pictures, used to hang around one eleven, and then Captain
Dugan saw his kid. He says, come on, we'll take you back
to the firehouse, and Scottie followed him back and it was love at first
sight. After ever since then it was great. Um. But like I
said, very good guys that I worked with. We'll get to some funny
stories at one forty if you want. Uh, I'm sure you probably have
some in the back you didn't tell me about. But we'll get there.
Uh. Uh, guys, some of the bosses we had, Steve Viola,
we had Richie Scott great great guy. Captain Campbell is there now,
Uh, Anthony Roman, Lieutenant Joy Anthony Roman, He's ready wants to be
ready, wants these guys to be ready to go. That's him right there.
And uh, yeah, he came from nine Engine and uh I remember
like a kid. Yeah, but I'll tell you he wants still wants everybody
to be so super ready and he's willing to do whatever he can to to
make everybody go home safe. And like I said to you before, it's
not a it's not a shot at anybody or any company. But I think
the companies that don't do as much work, it's more it's harder on the
boss, you know what I'm saying, Because you're motivated, right, And
that's why you have to have a very good relationship with your chauffeur, so
he could take care of the outside team. You got to worry about the
inside team. And if you have guys who like to drill, it takes
a little pressure off of them because in the more busy places, you can't
get these guys to slow down from drilling. They're drilling more than maybe you
want them to. But they're ready to go. But guys like that Lieutenant
Hwai went out to be a chief right away. Uh. Lieutenant Demano another
fantastic human being in two ninety one. He wants any company he works in
to be the absolute best, never make a mistake. But the guys you
know, they're they're great. They're great guys and accepted me there and I
could only try to do what I wanted to do and make friends with them
in lifelong friends too. John Sicatella another great dude. Man, do anything
for you anytime you need something, drop of a hat, he's there.
Uh. You got guys like Charlie Young guys, Charlie Kump, Ryan Zaccaro,
guys like Chris Cronus, Steve Della Rosa. We all taken test to
be lieutenants. They're they're great. I got Frank Munch, Josh Lassman,
Jooe Browne, another guy that would just give you his kidney if you need
it, he give it to you. It did, and I find that
anywhere in the job. He got Lieutenant Fields right there. Here's a guy
who passed through. He ended up going to one sixteen. He was a
forty truck guy who used to talk about working in Harlem and how you know
twenty six and fourteen eek with forty you know all those little jokes and Chris
Fields man, this guy will call up and say, hey, man,
I was thinking to you, you know, how's it going. How's retirement
going? And retirement's great at times other times not so great. I mean
you have the freedom and something's coming up. I went there like when you
go to Ranger game game seven, all of a sudden you buy a ticket
that day. It's not I got to work tomorrow. Who can I get
to work for me? You just go because you retired? Yeah, they
no, no, no, And uh drove all the way back home to
Pennsylvania from Jersey from the game seven. I'm like, I wish I was
going to the firehouse. I just wasted time and money and now I'm driving
all I wish I was going to five ass. So those are the guys
that, uh, you know, and and not to forget, we lost
Lieutenant Corrigan. He was a guy passing through two ninety one last year.
Just uh you heard all the stories about the guys from thirty eight and fifty
one that would talk about him, and uh, I wish I got to
work with him much longer. You know. He it was he passed the
Captain's test. I think it was number seventy six on the list all he
wanted to do was be a captain and life was short for him, and
I'm sorry for him and his family. Um, so I guess I'm open
now he could start taking shots at me. I don't know. It was
when you work with coons, right, Yeah. They started to make me
fit into Steve Delaros's shirt because Steve was kind of a small guy, very
thin obviously, and uh, I had to try to measure up to him.
So I had to go down on my knees and put my shoes on
him and he and uh, guys are having fun. Man. There's Chris
Cronus on the left and Steve Kolbick on the right. Steve Kolbick is probably
one of the most talented guys I've ever met. With his hands, he
could make anything, he could weld anything. He gives himself tattoos. I
don't know how you do that, but the guy is incredibly talented. Yeah,
very much. So that's how's my boy? How is my boy doing
over there? Danny's doing fantastic, Yes, Danny, Danny, I think
like to sixteen for the year that he was there. Of course, I
had my best friend Jeff Miller look out for him and uh he Danny.
Danny's a good good uh addition to the crew. He really is. Mikey
was into eighty year already, but I got the pleasure of getting a little
friendly with him and we retired around the same time. We went to his
party at O'Neill's. All the good stuff. But as far as the firehouse,
I remember some of the senior guys in two ninety one, like Bill
Barry and those guys were telling me guy was a superb fireman. Superb.
Yeah. I recruited him. Yeah, and you know I was. I
busted his shoes for a long time, broke he would, yeah and uh
yeah. So it was a good time. I mean, very very nice,
nice person. That's a nice was the firehouse man. Yeah, your
parties there, Christmas parties, but yeah, Christmas parties a lot of the
first firehouse I ever went into him when me and Kevin went to go see
his father. I'll give you. I'll give you. Louis. You talk
about you talk about how how small the fire department is in places you go,
like I mentioned before, Uh, you had Nel's Jourgensen on yeah this
podcast, Nice Man one twelve, Happy Go Lucky, we're talking. He
comes to one seventy four one day and I'm driving him with talkings. Oh,
your father was on the job, he says, yeah, but father
with him seventy two. Say how old you? He told me how old
he was? It said, my father worked in three thirty. I said,
do you remember the Christmas parties? Yeah? Me and him with the
same Christmas parties. Oh my god, we're like five, six, seven
years old. And here I am driving him thirty years later. Has this
happened? Crazy? Yeah, small world everywhere you go, but if it
could happen to me, it does. And probably a segue you went to
some of your things you got there that I should talk about, don't Well
we have a picture of a car that guy I was waiting to bring that
bad boy. Yeah? Am I talking too much? Okay? Yeah?
Okay, Well that is you know the building where um kmart is on Metropolitan
Avenue. Oh, the big shopping center that Metro mall d Yeah, and
where's the building a quarter of a mile wide? Okay? Well, me
and my wife, I'm in my my Pennsylvania house. We bought a house
in Pennsylvania and we were up there and you know, getting out of the
city for a little while and are here. It's got to snow really bad.
It's like a Wednesday. I'm working Thursday night Friday. I said to
my wife, listen, I'm not taking you back to the city because of
the snow. I'm having dinner with you. I'm beating the snow because you
try driving on these highways. These truckers do ninety five in the snow downhill
and I'm not getting killed on my way to work. I want to get
to work. It's fun there. So she says, Okay, I go.
She says, you gotta be careful so that, honey, wo it'd
be fine. Well lo and behold. I go to the firehouse, spend
the night there. The morning comes and say, hey, bru, they
want to need guys for overtime today. They said you could work today and
they'll hire somebody tomorrow. I said, you know, I had some things
that they got to the bank. I got I gotta go to Kmart.
You gotta go to kmart. Yeah, I gotta go to Kmart. I
gotta get shoot, you know, put dungarees for work and stuff. So
okay, forget that. They hired somebody else. I go. They didn't
plow the street on match Pothanamian. So I see the guard in with a
with a freight areas. He said, oh, you're the fireman. I
said yeah, I said, we come here wrong time. I said,
they didn't plow the street, and I just leave the car here. Yeah,
nobody's coming here anyway. You want to talk there? Well, I
leave my jacket in the car. I run the kmart. I opened the
door. I'm not even I didn't even go in the building. The gates
three quarters down their closing because of the stall. I come running back and
says, oh, firemen at the Indian guy, firemen, your car you
got hit? I said, how did my car get hit? There?
There's no cars, there's no truck. The guy hit your car. I
walk around the front of the car Louis, and there's a guy laying on
the ground gurgling. Mark these guys. Wait, wait a minute. I'm
looking up and I see his assprint on the overhang of where they parked the
trucks. This guy tried to kill himself. He jumped off the roof.
He is ass hit them hit the thing and he went forward. Now,
if my car was like three roof, he tried to play Peter Pan off
of the roof. All right, I came straight down, hit it and
face plane it right into the back of my car. Did you get it?
Start compressions? Did you start compressions on him? I said to him,
wait, if I'm thinking, if my car was up three feet,
this guy be dead. If my car was back three feet, he would
have crushed the top. I would have got a new car because the car
was only about a year old, because he would have bent the posts alls.
They would have said thank you very much much. Instead we find out
he at HIV. His face went through my tailgate, and all State wants
to fix my tailgate and shample my carpet. Call of the day. So
now and then right every time I'm driving the car, you got rattling from
the from the glass, I said to the guy. Guys, I hear
to fire. I'm a fineman. I worked down the block. Don't move,
so I don't I don't have a call out. I don't know.
I don't want to touch him. I don't want to just I don't know
how bad his injuries are. Don't move. They're coming. You hear them,
They're coming. All of a sudden two ninety one comes Richie Scott.
Great boss. He gets out, Hey Greg, what happened to the guy?
They're thinking I stuff to help him as a good samaritan, which I
am trying to help him. But I said, I'm looking at You're gonna
be all right, man, Just look at just call he just took it
off. Yeah, I'm not I promise we're gonna take it. Look at
my car, like how particular. And my wife just said be careful.
Right. So now my boys, Greg, that's the Calac Yes, boss,
it's a Catillac. Yes, yes. So he writes it all down
and now the cops got the car roped off because they got to wait to
see if this guy dies. Now it's evidence, and I got no code
on. I'm standing out in the snow. I'm like, holy crap,
this is not good. So lo and behold. The guy had a note
in his pocket. It was supposed to be in court for some type of
pedophile thing with the judge, and he had aids and he was left the
note for his sister in his pocket. And my car broke his fall and
the guy broke two ribs and lived. And I got a new tailgate and
a sham lived. He lived, he left Stepd Kevin. Yes, he
did see that rattle. Isn't a glass? Those are his teeth somewhere around
probably, I'm like what. I called my wife and said, hunt.
He said, you had an accident. I said, no, no,
I didn't have an accident. What was the matter? He said, there
was a guy to play. Peter Paney jumped up what. She hung up
the phone. She hung up on me. A couple of minutes later,
she cloes back and said, Greg, tell me what really happened. I
said, I'm sending you a picture of the car. I sent their picture
of the car. I said, that's where the guy's face went through in
the front. So that was something else that happened. If it could only
happen to me, it happened. So what are the pictures we got there?
Gonza? We have anymore? We had a lot of good one to
hear a little story here for this guy right here if you want, oh
yeah, okay, um that is I could tell you the guys that are.
But that was the job we had. The good fellows, Dina right
on the corners, yea, yeah, yeah, yeah. That boss Gregg
came from one thirteen and he's Engine Boston two eighty seven. Right now on
the left is George you lad and myself. In the middle is my man
Steven Delarosa. That I put his shirt on. You could see the little
difference in size. And you got John Sick Charlie Kump right there, who's
had a good career ahead of him. I definitely he's going place as that
guy. And there's my good man John Ticatella. Guy do anything for you
guys who go far back to do it good. So I have a couple
here, or do you. We had a few minutes before the day.
Yeah, that was That was a job in Cannossy we had and uh we
were to a SECONDU and you know by time anybody needed to come help us,
it was out. We did it. Everybody did their job, uh,
just clearing the place out and it happened. Happened to get a picture
of me. Uh didn't smile for the camera, nothing but just the way.
Yeah, yeah, I was doing it. But uh I didn't get
to give you a picture because it's on YouTube. But it's it's a Probably
the best fire I ever went to was on It was with Chief Richardson and
every single time I see him. He doesn't know me by name, but
he looks at me and I look at him and I say Kingston and Carroll,
and he's like, uh huh, Kingston and Carroll. It was on
a down a downgrade street and I don't know what happened. Sometime in like
June, so a guy had an argument with somebody and they tried to burn
him out and burnt his apartment. The guy fixed the apartment up. The
day he moved in was labor Day weekend, and we were in two eighty
three at the time, and the box comes over and they hear it and
they're asking for an extra engine and truck and bull him. They bang a
second and we're flying down. We get we get there right away and fire.
If you look at him, punch it in on YouTube, it's fourth
a long Kingston and Carrol. I think it was twenty twelve, and I
remember being on the stairs with Chief Richardson and this guy was just talking like
he I'm talking to you nothing, yeah, three eight yeah, yeah.
We got heavy fire. Yeah, Like I'm hunked down And all of a
sudden, one side was vacant and the other side was occupied and it burned
through the door. Louis, I'm telling you, like you would see in
the smoke house. You see the fire guy like this went right over us,
right into that apartment. And he looked at me while he was talking.
He stopped on the mic. He said, did you see that just
like that? Did you see it? Yeah? And or afterwards he told
me like that was probably one of the only jobs that went to that many
alarms that was never like an outside operation. Yeah, did he write that?
I mean that was that was? That was like one of those that
you say, was it on Labor Day? It was on Labor Day,
was Sunday night going into Monday. Yeah, you got it. And there
were guys on the fire escape. There were guys from truck companies trying to
bang on. Yeah, Kevin, it was if you could say, you
got your ass kick, definitely when it was all over, you did it
was? It was? It was something. So that was really that was
one of my better ones. Pretty funny. Did you see that? Well?
Else we got guns eponymous all right, so we have a I don't
know he wanted he took me a little bit about this earlier. I want
to see if he wants to touch on your dad's story with the badge.
Yeah, yeah, okay, um, tremendous amount of respect from a tremendous
amount of respect for my old man. He uh always looked into my well
being, of course, teaching me. Wanted me to learn from the best.
And he called up the badge desk to see if his badge was available
when I was ready to get out of probi school. And sure enough,
it was only like three and a half to four years from when he retired
to when I got hired, and they said, yeah, you know,
mister Bruno's available. He said, like my son to have it. So
that badge was actually in my family probably for more than more than sixty years,
so close to sixty years, and lucky enough to have my father still
here. I said, it's no brainer. I got to get him back
his badge. You know. I got mine on my cap. And I
was last Thanksgiving after dinner at my brother's house. I said, hey,
Pop, you know, he congratulated me on my retirement, and I said,
I told my nieces and nephew of my whole story about the scanner and
not having the money for the church, the whole bit. And I said,
Dad, look you know I have something for you. Please open this,
you know, and I want you to have it. I hope,
I hope you have it for a hundred years and someday it'll come back to
me. But I think you deserve this. This is yours. And he
was he was touched. You know. It was something that I felt I
can get back to him. It was great. I protected it. I
never lost it, and uh, I never got I bought the badges when
I retired, and like I said, I gave him back his original and
it's the old style, like the real over with the block letters and so
like the Budweiser kin. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So
it was nice. It was a it was a good thing. I felt
good about doing it. Yeah. My father gave my brother his badge and
they really when my brother passed away, my brother Steve bought it. So
we really have it since nineteen sixty fantastic. Yeah, good stuff, family
stuff. Yeah yeah, really, Gods, it was a time for the
old school tip. But we can we can sneak one more in their short
little one and then we could do the right right continuing with his dad and
we goes a little history. Oh that's a good picture. Yeah, lowie.
I was in the firehouse. We had a job one forty one night,
and uh, I came back, showered up, and I'm on the
upstairs computer and I'm I had like Instagram pictures or whatever, and I'm looking
and it says Brooklyn second alarm, like nineteen seventy four. And I'm thinking,
wait, he didn't get he didn't get laid off till seventy five.
And I'm looking and guy buckling his jacket is the guy straight straight ahead,
straight ahead, his helmet on the car, his buckling. You see how
big the Scott packs were and all that way. And I'm saying, that's
him. And the only way would have been better if the helmet was turned
over you would have seen the Bedge number obviously on the front. And I
said, all right, I got a Father's Day gift. I got that
and I blew it up and I brought it to him. It's like,
where the hell did you get this? And I said he remember the job?
He remember? Yes, he does, he actually does. He told
me the names of all the people that were y too. Yeah, what
is that? What is that? Idea? Helmets are actually yellow? That
looks like it doesn't look like it looks yellow. There were helmets, auxiliary
guys that would come in and it would you know, that was all the
you know back in the day, you know, leather helmets, the whole
bit. Yeah. Look how big that thing is, like a jet post.
I'm using that picture tomorrow on Instagram. It's like a jet ski.
Where was it? Where was that picture from? Brigg? I think it
was Ocean Avenue or Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. I think it was somewhere.
I think it said nineteen seventy four. If I remember the burrow of Via
Fuego, we might have a shirt that says that. Yeah, I'll sure
I'm sending him all right. I think it's that time. You know what
time it is, It's time for Are you ready? R I'm ready?
Nay hold on him four the old of the Day, Day day away,
Okay. I I put a little um emphasis on what I was gonna say,
and I didn't want it to go too long. And first, like
I said, apologize to anybody in case it might have forgot all the wonderful
people who have helped me enjoy my career as much as I did. You
know, I always put a lot of things to say that we are all
very privileged in being a New York City fire fighter and being able to serve
the public. It's really important, as if I always felt it was,
the call was going out to your own family member, and you got to
do what you can to get there safely. You have to, especially when
you're driving, ensure the safety the guys that you love that you're working with,
and be able to get to where you're going in a timely fashion.
As far as a guy, you know, being a chauffeur tremendous amount of
responsibility. You have everybody's life in your hands. You want to get to
where you're going safely. You want to get there quickly. Your positioning of
how you put your apparatus is obviously could be the difference of life and death.
You want to get your roof guy up there as soon as you can,
and you want to have a good report with your bosses so that they
have the confidence in you that you're taking care of two of the guys that
they don't have to worry about, and if they need something, you're going
to be there. Um. It really goes a long way. UM.
So that's one thing. Another thing is like when you're just the receipt of
your ticket. You know, I always felt it was good. Guys want
you to get there. They want you to beat the guy in and want
to get piece of the work. Get out there and start the rig.
You know everything's gonna boot up. Sid's information things on the MDT. If
more information is coming over the radio as you're getting in the rig. The
guys think you're leaving without them that rig is started. They're like, I
gotta get going. He's gonna leave me, which we wouldn't do. But
you want to get them. You know, in a in a good thinking
mind that you got to get on the rig and go and get out the
door. So I that to me is important. And for guys are a
drive and if you're in a in a place where it's always it's really important
to get there quickly. But if you use your head and think about what
guy Gary Not told me. You look going down on a two way street,
you look up ahead and that light is red, you can get there
quick. But then you're gonna have to jam on your brakes and start up
all over again when it turns green, or you proceed through the red.
If you maybe keep the momentum going and take your foot up a little bit.
It may give you enough time for that light to turn yellow to red
and green for you, and you're gonna keep going. And as much as
we say, you can't make up time on the road because you can only
drive so fast. If you eliminate the amount of times you got to come
to a complete stop and then start up again, you may pick up a
couple of seconds, and that may be the difference of somebody. So that
would be the only tip that I have, and I appreciate you guys having
me on and please brothers. As my buddy Lenny would always say, always
right safe, dude. That was a great Like that a lot, bro.
I bet you somebody's going to be using that because that is true,
right, It really is true. Why you got a race to the light,
go through the stops and slow down a little bit. And you know
what, being a great, being a good chauffeur, there are times when
the brothers need you. You have to drive that thing as fast as you
possibly can, but you have to do it in a safely manner. And
you may pick up three times or four times in that stretch where coming to
a stop make take your ten seconds to start up again. You just say
forty seconds. Yeah, so yeah, I got another question, man,
how do you keep that hassled? Kevin starting to go, starting to go.
Yeah to you guys. This old school tip of the day. It
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dragons hooks. He's still muted? Is he still muted? Thank god?
All right? So then wallet, he's still muted. You might as well
good, You might as well play often safety tip of the day, and
that is going to be by people at first responding. And let me get
to it. You're gonna buy a computer, more money, more money,
more money. That's when it comes down to what exactly. The First Responders
Center for Excellence is not for profit organization dedicated to protecting the lives and livelihoods
of first responders. Their education and research initiatives aim to bring greater awareness and
understanding the challenges to the health, safety, and well being of firefighters,
EMS, personnel, and other first responders too. They are an affiliate of
the National Falling Firefighter Foundation. The Old school health and safety tipt for this
evening is early cancer detection, saves lives. Make an annual medical appointment today.
Amen to that, bro, I just got mine the mail today.
Early detection is key. You want to be around for a long time,
guys. I want to have roughly as my right hand asshole man the next
fifty years, right Broyes whole buddy sh to do. We got shit to
do. It's Bruno. Maybe we get the old man on what do you
think? I think it would be great. He has h he's probably got
better stories than me. What war time, war years. Let's uh,
let's let's try and get it going. See talked to him first if he's
interested, and then uh, give me a tickle and we'll get it going.
It. I appreciate this guy's very much. Hold on, woman,
I got three shot, Louis, and I will be at the New York
State Chiefs June fourteenth through the seventeenth, one hundred and seventeenth Annual New York
State Chiefs. Come up and see us in Syracuse. Maybe bias center on
the on center in Syracuse. My next shout out goes to the lovely delicious
Missus Procuccini. It's her birthday, Happy birthday, Missus Procuccini. Yummy.
Oh let me get this straight. It's Procuccini's wife's birthday and he's on the
in the chat. Yeah okay, I think on birthdays Sunday and Monday.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and one more uh. He was known as
Captain Stanley Mike Norrel on emergency passed away May twelve. Uh, eighty five
years old. CON's wiz your there you go, eighty five years old.
I'm available. That's all I got himself. Where'd you get the empty cheat
thing? You? Buff? Greg was like this, you know, I
remember that as a kid, waiting to trying not to fall asleep. I
was so tired and I'd wait for these guys go running down the canyon before
the explosions and he had a bomb. No. I was was into that.
Yeah, great book, great show, enjoy appreciate, enjoyed you coming
on fully. Yeah, thank you very much, Dona and uh you know
right safe brothers. Yeah you have. Now you have an invite to the
annual boat ride on the fire Boat because past number which is coming up by
the way, for all you pass guests in the end, for the beginning
first week in August. I believe we'll get more info out there. That's
it, all right, guys, all right, weekend. I don't know
if we have a show on Monday, do we negative? No show?
Holiday? No show? Not available for all the time. All right,
Gonzo play the close out, buddy, all right, it's ten four,
here we go. Well, thank you first and foremost for tuning in to
another episode of The Getting Salty Experience. Think we're out a good content,
far from it. If you want to find us on the audio side,
you can do so on All the players were available on Yes, I said
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things like rig photos, firehouse kitchen tables, fire videos, helmetcam videos,
tattoos, mustache photos and yes photos for the unofficial Hotto Ladies contest that we
may or may not be holding allegedly. Thanks once again for tuning in to
the Getting Salty experience, and thank you Patty Lee. It is my birthday
in fact on Saturday. Thank you for the birthday which double Nichols. Saturday's
your birthday, so as Captain Florencos as well. I'll rappy bard to the
Captain Flurenco. Yes well, alright, alright guys, what you get brutal?
Yeah, all right, guys, we'll see you next Thursday. Until
then, stay low and all everybody will see it the big one. Thanks
all, Greg