WEBVTT 1 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:29.120 You're listening to the Getting Salty Experience podcast. Hello, Hello, Roofie Ouncus. 2 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:31.199 So, look I missed him so much. Ray, I got my 3 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:34.320 little Roofie. Look at that. It's good to be a roofie man. 4 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:43.320 Sure the world that guy direction, he's like, I'm a fund hunting everywhere, 5 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:46.719 rabbit season, stuck seasons, rabbit season pain in Iowa. I can 6 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:49.200 tell you that he'd be freezing his balls off right now if he was in 7 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:55.159 Iowa. Everywhere, it's everywhere, it's cold as hot. If you want 8 00:00:55.159 --> 00:00:57.200 to see him though, we do actually have some pictures. This is what 9 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.600 he's busy doing, Mike. Let's let's pull them up here. One of 10 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:03.759 three on his face, Yes, you see it. There you see even 11 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:08.879 better his face with a couple of dead ducks around his He's been killing Daffy, 12 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:15.319 living the Louis dream. If if that's what you're into, good for 13 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.159 you, God bless Yeah. Why do you got to wear all the camoflage 14 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:21.319 though? Like, are they ducks that hip? Ti? No? They 15 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:25.680 actually have great eyesight and you have to be still and if you're wearing something 16 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:29.680 bright, they'll they'll see it, So you have to be very still. 17 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:30.920 You have to have a duck line. You have to be in like camouflage, 18 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:36.079 otherwise they'll they'll pick up your movement. Wow, you want something tonight. 19 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:44.239 See, it's not just a Louis Faston statement. You know tabo When 20 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:48.519 you're going to shoot board defensile's ducks with a gun, that's spray's bullets. 21 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:51.560 Sounding like you're shooting one, right, you're shooting like a spray of bullets 22 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.000 rifle just to hunt. Listen more and more from live thing get shot. 23 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.000 So it's not that easy. Yeah, all right, I'm gonna put Louis 24 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:05.239 away from now we'll put them back. What else is going on? I 25 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:09.400 still got the beard look at him, Mike, Look you know, paying 26 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:14.879 tribute to him. Yeah, great character of don't look like I'm twelve. 27 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:19.080 Yeah, so got to do mic and everything you never really did. But 28 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:30.080 the bear definitely I like it very much. Mystery perhaps the world. Yeah, 29 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:31.439 we got to get some spots. But first we're going to segue into 30 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:35.479 something else because race got Oh wait, did you did you play the other 31 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.639 thing? Mike? First? Yeah, let's play the disclaimer that we will 32 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.560 have for all episodes going forward. Disclaimer we'd like to know before the start 33 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.560 of this interview that the opinions about to be expressed by the guest of tonight's 34 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:51.080 Getting Salty Experience podcast are that of the guest and do not directly or necessarily 35 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:57.080 reflect the views of the host of the Getting Salty Experience Podcast. So we 36 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:00.800 got Branson checking in from Kansas. It's cold on a poll. There's nutsack 37 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:05.199 here. He said, that's cold. But it didn't bother the Chiefs on 38 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:09.639 Saturday Night, Right, it did not be football fan mikey Yep. The 39 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:15.759 Bills just rocked out. Green Bay just turned over something that's hold one out 40 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:17.000 of the hat man, right, yep, pulled one out of the rest 41 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:21.039 or the hat. Whatever it is. I don't know, all right, 42 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.360 Ray, so get it too before we get into spots, go ahead. 43 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:29.319 During the deceeventh twenty to seventy show, I made some comments about a man 44 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:31.719 that we had a discussion with that back in nineteen ninety eight that were up 45 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:38.039 rude, on quld for and inappropriate. These comments were not in spirit of 46 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:45.159 the show, and I regret ever making those statements. Because those comments were 47 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:49.080 made on the show, I feel the need to apologize to that man for 48 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:57.360 making those comments. Those comments were again on tuld floor and unnecessary. I 49 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:05.360 apologize to that division thirteen chiefs, and I'm most very sincerely sorry that that 50 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:12.240 happened. I want to thank Kevin and the Getting Salty crew for allowing me 51 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.800 to make that apology kid tonight. Thank you very much. You know what, 52 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.240 man, all you could do is when you do something wrong, is 53 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.439 to be a man and take ownership of it. I tell people that all 54 00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:26.000 the time. They say, if you gotta funk up, to step up. 55 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:29.519 Well, once you funk up, you got to step up. That's 56 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:32.439 it, bro, you know. So that's I felt the need to do 57 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:36.759 that here tonight because I made those comments here. Thank you. You're manned 58 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:41.560 up right. Thank you. If you feel like saying something about saying about 59 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:44.600 me, I could kill us. I've never follow me. I have a 60 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:49.519 fixed skin. Ba. I survived the middle school watch table. I can 61 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:53.360 survive anything, so you can bat Yeah, this is this is this isn't 62 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.480 the kitchen table. That the guys can come back. So that's why I'm 63 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:58.839 here. Yeah, I gotcha. All right, let's do some commercials. 64 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:01.600 Thank you, appreciate that. Thank you. Ray First's hear from our friends 65 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:06.279 over at Armortone. 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Join the 81 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:31.639 hundreds of career and volunteer fire departments nationwide who have chosen an armor tough interlocking 82 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:38.240 tile floor. Armour Tough interlocking tiles are half the price of epoxy and will 83 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:43.680 last a lifetime without issue. Again, call Vince today for a no obligation 84 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:49.360 quote at nine oh eight nine one seven seven six nine seven. Excellent, 85 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:54.480 My Jim, you in touch with Vince's daughter. I did. I helped 86 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.240 her out with a few things behind the scenes. So you have a new 87 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.600 commercial coming out soon, hopefully soon. Yes, all right, and we 88 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.120 gotta we gotta who we got here. We had a guy from Pennsylvania's Rob 89 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.480 Brady coming from Danville, Pennsylvania, to come from all over the place coming 90 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:10.959 out of woodwork tonight, you know what I mean? Indeed, all right, 91 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:13.560 that's all we got right as far as commercials tonight, we got one 92 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:15.680 later, we have one later on. Ye. All right, let's get 93 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:17.360 this guy in here. Man, this guy has got the very extensive career. 94 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:20.519 I hope we get to the whole thing tonight. Uh in and out 95 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:24.680 of the fire service. Well, pertaining to the fire Service. Seems like 96 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.959 he's a very dedicated man to the fire service, and he's still given today. 97 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:30.720 Mike, you bring him in. I'm gonna work the applause here. 98 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.800 All right, Ladies and gentlemen retire out of the FD and y especially including 99 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.319 his Stitt and Rescue three in the Office of Emergency Management. Firefighter Tim Brown. 100 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:45.839 Welcome to the show, mister Brown. You sure have you watched this 101 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.759 show before? I have? Oh so, all right, I was surprised 102 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:53.839 that somebody in there who is at Paul Conway City loves you. Whoever that 103 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.639 is, I love him. Here's my brother. Yes, all right, 104 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:01.079 let's get patriotic first. Yeah, let's gonna say yep, we have that 105 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:07.800 covered up right now here we go. I pledge allegiance to the flag of 106 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:15.560 the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one 107 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:33.200 nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Excellent and yes, 108 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.879 Robert Britt, Robert Brady, Bobby Brady, Yes, yes, Bobby 109 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:39.480 Brady. Willie at the Farmhouse Show in May so it'll come to see me 110 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:43.879 and Louie. All right, mister Brown, let's start. Let's go back 111 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:46.200 the ways. Let's go back to your family life. You're not a native 112 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.519 of New Yorker, right, you grew up in Connecticut. Yes. Us 113 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:54.799 a little about the early days of Tim Brown. I was a bad kid 114 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:01.000 when I was twelve thirteen years old and I met a young young man one 115 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:05.840 year older than me back then named Jay Walsh. And you might recognize Jay's 116 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:13.120 name. And Jay was a junior fireman. And I saw him at a 117 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:16.440 fire near my house and I said, what are you doing here? He 118 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.720 was sixteen. I was fifteen at this time, and he was like, 119 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.960 I'm a junior fireman. And my ears went straight up like this. I 120 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.759 said, you're a what he said, I'm a junior fireman. I said, 121 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:31.240 can I be a junior fireman? He said, yeah, you could 122 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:33.879 be a junior fireman. Come down on Wednesday nights. So I went. 123 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:41.200 I started going down to the volunteer firehouse at fifteen years old, and you 124 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.120 know, the first night I went down, I was under the weather. 125 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.120 The following week, they said to me, Tim, you can either be 126 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:56.240 stoned or be a junior fireman, but you can't be both. And that 127 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:00.759 is when I stopped being a bad boy. I was gonna ask you, 128 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:07.120 bad boy, what times? All? Right? That went pick one? 129 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:11.879 But really I give I give credit for this whole thing to Jay Walsh because 130 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:16.360 I never would have I never would have done. Uh. You know I 131 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:22.399 had this career if it weren't for him introducing me. And subsequently Jay becomes 132 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:26.480 a New York City fireman and gets promoted to lieutenant and does over twenty years 133 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:31.200 in the New York City Fire Department. So, uh, Timmy Klett, 134 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.559 Jay Walsh, Tim Brown, we all became a New York City fireman from 135 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:43.519 Newington, Connecticut. Wow. Yeah, Always to like one guy that just 136 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.480 sets your career off in one direction, right, it's one person in your 137 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:52.919 life to set it off in a certain direction. That's great. Well, 138 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.519 you know Zach that you joined the junior junior, the junior fireman. Now 139 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.120 now you're testing me. I guess it was I guess it was seventy eight 140 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:09.360 or something, or seventy seven, seventy seven, and then you see seventy 141 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:13.440 seventy became an EMT right first too. Yeah, yeah, so when you 142 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:16.120 were fifteen, I was a junior fireman, so I couldn't be like a 143 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:22.879 real volunteer fireman. But in that time, I became a real EMT Newington 144 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.840 volunteer ambulance And I did that, you know, until I was seventeen, 145 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:37.000 and then I joined the actual Newington Volunteer Fire Department for whatever it was a 146 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:39.759 year and a half before I went off to college. Well what did your 147 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:46.120 family think about that you joined the juniors get involved in the fire service. 148 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:48.840 My dad thought it was great, My brothers thought it was great. My 149 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:54.720 mom hated it. A mom Yeah, she always hated my interest in the 150 00:11:54.759 --> 00:12:03.360 fire service because she was she was scared mm hmm and fair enough, you 151 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.360 know, even after all the nots that you put it through before you got 152 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:11.919 right away. Oh, I I tested my parents from when I was a 153 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:15.879 little kid, so I I feel sorry for them. They raised five children 154 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:20.120 and I was by far the biggest tennis the menace of the five of us. 155 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.279 And and uh, yeah, I was just a troublemaker. So in 156 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:30.759 a way, the fire service kind of uh straightened my ass out and gave 157 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:37.600 me something to focus on and something I enjoyed. So for all the all 158 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:41.480 the kids out there that are listening, join your local volunteer fire department, 159 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:48.759 uh and straighten your ship out. Oah, volteer. Fire department has a 160 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:52.519 junior program and it draws a lot of guys in and it keeps them and 161 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:58.840 it sets them in the pair to make it a life to it absolutely absolutely 162 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:03.840 change your life. None of your brothers wanted to follow you. My younger 163 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:11.360 brother Chris, who's watching, shout out to him, also became a Providence, 164 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:15.559 Rhode Island firefighter. He did twenty six years in Providence, Rhode Island. 165 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:24.919 And now my brother and my proudest follow one is his daughter Taylor, 166 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:31.240 who is now a Providence firefighter. Awesome, great, Yeah, and the 167 00:13:31.399 --> 00:13:37.279 United States Army medic and so I couldn't be more proud of her. Wow, 168 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:41.759 definitely those Browns. How you have to tell you? So then you 169 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:48.360 go to unl University of New Haven, right, and then you tell us 170 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:52.000 about that you joined the fire department over there, and it's I forget what 171 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:58.039 you called it, a bucky right. Yeah. So I lived at the 172 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:03.919 firehouse, which was combination of paid and volunteer. But I lived at the 173 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:09.279 firehouse for free in West Haven's Center district while I went to college at the 174 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.919 University of New Haven. In exchange for that, I jumped on the truck 175 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:16.759 whenever I was there, I was an extra pair of hands, extra manpower. 176 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.200 It caused some I was the first one, so of course change is 177 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:26.159 difficult, so it caused some kind of problems. But I guess I feel 178 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:31.240 like I plowed the way a little bit for future young people to be able 179 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:35.799 to live in the firehouse. And I couldn't have been happier. I really 180 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.960 could have cared less about college, and but I really liked jumping on the 181 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.639 truck. What was your major in college? Will you go down fire science? 182 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.440 That's why I want to go to age. Did you want to finishing? 183 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.919 So I did three and a half years, and I got offered a 184 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.960 paid job in New Britain, so I did not finish. A few years 185 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:05.919 yars ago, when I got my National security clearance, UH renewed my investigator. 186 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:11.720 They're very thorough. So my investigator asked me why I lied to her, 187 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:18.279 and of course it took me aback because I didn't. And she said, 188 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:20.440 why didn't you tell me you had an associates degree from the University of 189 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.480 New Haven. I said, because I don't. I didn't. I never 190 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:26.840 got anything. I just walked away from it. And she said, you 191 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.600 have an associate's degree from the University of New Haven And I said, no, 192 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.360 I don't. She said, yes, you do, and she pulled 193 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:37.519 out she pulled she pulled out a piece of paper and showed it to me. 194 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.879 And so just two years ago I found out I had an associate's degree. 195 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:45.600 I didn't even know. See, you're smaller than your thought, and 196 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:50.960 the federal government is more than stuff than you think. It shows you how 197 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:56.519 how thorough they are really. Yeah, so I made you jumping real quick. 198 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:58.720 Cool story. So Deputy Chief by Zanti swung by my office the other 199 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:00.399 day. I told him that, you know, we were going to have 200 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:03.679 you on and he said, you know that you said the Center District was 201 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.440 the nuttiest place that you ever worked, and fair assumption. You know. 202 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.039 I enjoy working there myself. And around that time, you had a lot 203 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:11.679 of characters, some of which I still work with, including him. But 204 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.679 Wiggi Johnson was the chief at the time, and I work for his son 205 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:18.720 now. Paul Rappano was there. He's still there now, is our business 206 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:22.799 manager. So thinking about Wigi, who was listen to a guy that really 207 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:25.879 took the Center District to the next level. What was it like working for 208 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:38.440 him. So that's very personal. He was like a dad to me, 209 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:47.960 and I'm play yeah when he when I was struggling or whatever, I needed 210 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.320 twenty bucks or I needed this or that or anything. He was always there 211 00:16:52.360 --> 00:17:00.759 for me. And I love that man and his family, young young Billy 212 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:06.960 Johnson, Chief Johnson now, uh is like my brother, and uh, 213 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:14.319 you know he he was another one that I credit with my my incredible career 214 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:18.119 path and and uh, you know, I I was sorry that he passed 215 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:23.720 away during COVID H but he felt like hell, like a marine would for 216 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:29.279 a long long time. And I did get to say goodbye to him. 217 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:37.000 Uh, and and actually put a New York City Fire Department patch next to 218 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:42.839 his heart inside his uniform jacket in his casket. So I hope to always 219 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:49.039 be with him. Yeah, he's always with you too, can you you? 220 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:52.640 So you probably deserve you deserve good friends. And you had to thank 221 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:59.119 you. I didn't expect that question. So but it's good. It's good. 222 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:00.759 No, No, donpe be sorry. It's good. I love that 223 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:04.960 man with all my heart and uh, he was a big influence in my 224 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.440 life. Well he was the chief when you were there, what'd you say? 225 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:11.319 He was like he was the chief department. He was their longest serving 226 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:15.119 chief of department. He was there from nineteen eighty one until he retired in 227 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.319 two thousand and seven. And currently his son is the deputy chief and I 228 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:19.480 have the honor of working for him. Good man. That's pretty cool, 229 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:25.240 great family. Right, So you take the paid where'd you take the paid 230 00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:29.720 job? Now? In New Britain? New Britain that busy to Bolland, 231 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.720 right, think they over a lot of wives, right, We we had, 232 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:34.559 I know when I was there, they were we were pretty busy, 233 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:38.559 you know, I mean not not South Bronx busy, but we were you 234 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:45.440 know, we did our fair share of work like residential commercial makes you know, 235 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:49.119 yeah, you know it's like Providence. It's like frames, you know, 236 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:56.240 two and a half frames with with porches and uh you know, in 237 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.839 periodically commercial stuff. They were Stanley were Is based there, so they had 238 00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:07.480 a lot of commercial space. But I was only there a year and a 239 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:11.079 half, you know, obviously just there a short time. When did you 240 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.640 take the test for the for THEFT? I think it was end of eighty 241 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:21.680 one beginning of eighty two. I took the written which I got one hundred 242 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:23.599 on because I worked hard, because I was focused and I wanted to do 243 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:33.519 very well. And then the same thing with the physical tests. I got 244 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:37.960 one hundred with that out of forty thousand. I wind up with being number 245 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:41.559 sixty on the list. And I say that. I don't say that to 246 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:45.680 be a bragger. I'd say that because if you're a young person who wants 247 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:51.799 to be a firefighter, whether it's New York City or anywhere else, don't 248 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:56.599 just go take a test to try and pass. Go take a test to 249 00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:00.519 get a hundred. Go take a physical test to get a hundred. There's 250 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:06.920 no excuse not working that hard for the greatest job in the world. What 251 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.440 what led you to the fd M Y when you were in Connecticut? You 252 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:12.160 have friends there who pushed it to us that way exactly. J Walsh, 253 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:18.920 Timmy Klett, Paul Walsh, Tommy RONALDA who became a Chief Department of New 254 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:22.319 Britain. We all came down and took the test. Well, look, 255 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:26.599 we were buffs for years. You know. We would drive down from Connecticut 256 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:33.480 and uh run around to fires and take pictures and stuff. And uh, 257 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.519 you know, once once I was bit by that bug. There was no 258 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:41.039 there was no stopping me. It's it's what I wanted in my life. 259 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:47.480 And uh and it's it is even with all that has happened, in all 260 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:51.160 that we went through, and it's still the greatest job in the world. 261 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.440 Yep. I mean I tell my kids that in anything you do, I 262 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.039 don't care. If you're sweeping up outside, you do one hundred percent. 263 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.039 And whatever it is that you do, whatever job, whatever task you have, 264 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:07.279 one hundred percent, I don't care what it is. And if you 265 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:11.319 want something like you said, you wanted to fight apart and bad enough that 266 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:14.279 there is no complaining, there is no making excuses, go get. It 267 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.119 was to go get and make your dreams of reality. I didn't listen to 268 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:22.160 my dad the first time. I was fucking around, and like you, 269 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:23.599 I was being a bad boy, doing my thing. You know, my 270 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.200 dad told me to run. I'd be out fucking smoking weed, you to 271 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:30.559 doing whatever. My mother's probably listening, and I didn't get a hundred, 272 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:34.759 so didn't know that. Yeah, so I didn't get a hundred. And 273 00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:37.480 sad to say, the only thing that little fire under my ass was my 274 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.119 dad passed away. And then I you know, I went out and I 275 00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:44.200 got a hundred and one hundred too, and I think I was number one 276 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:47.920 hundred and something on the list. I don't remember it, not sixty's that's 277 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:51.480 awesome. The only thing that I regret was that, Yeah, I took 278 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:52.920 my dad passed it away, so I never got to share. He was 279 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.000 on the job, my two brothers on the job. I never got that. 280 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:00.640 Yeah, he'd be great for the show. I tell you that before. 281 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:04.640 Can you imagine something to say about you? What? What have a 282 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:11.039 gifts? Yeah? That passion runs in the family. I ask people all 283 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:12.079 the time. Do you think finding a born like that? Or is that 284 00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:18.559 something that you learn that's something that's ready. I think it's the individual, 285 00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:19.559 what he wants, what you want to do. You know, it has 286 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:26.480 to be a person wants to give and and we'll take whatever whatever the job 287 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:32.880 grows at them. Yeah, but you it's like nature or nurture. Is 288 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:36.680 that something that you learn or you're born to be a findman? I think 289 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:41.240 you're born to be a finding. What do you think, tim, I 290 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:49.880 couldn't see doing anything else. I'll yea with my life, so you know, 291 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:52.720 with with what happened to us and we'll get into it later. And 292 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:59.920 you don't think it's changed for me. But I still would not change those 293 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:03.079 years in Connecticut and then the twenty years in the New York City Fire Department. 294 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:07.640 I would never change that for one second, Right, Oh would you? 295 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:12.720 I mean? Uh? So you go to Proby class, you get 296 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:18.319 called and I have it somewhere here eighty four right, seven eleven eighty four? 297 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.240 You got on the job, right? Seven eleven eighty four? Yeah? 298 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:25.920 Man? Are you right? Like an elephant memory? I take notes. 299 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:29.319 You said you were in a split class, so some of the guys 300 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:33.119 will be on the test before you, and then the guys in your test, 301 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:37.200 right, Yes, so fifty from the old list and one hundred from 302 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:41.240 the new list. And I was lucky enough to make that. And our 303 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:45.960 Proby school then was six weeks long, and so that went pretty quickly, 304 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:56.599 and I wound up being assigned to La Cosa Kaka seventy three engine and Hunts 305 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:03.279 Point in the South Bronx by the leaf the truck forty La Alefante? Right, 306 00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:07.440 what was got? Luck of the drug? You got? How that 307 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:12.960 happened? Tim Well? I thought I was going somewhere else, but but 308 00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:17.680 that's where I wound up. And I couldn't be happier. Well, where 309 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:19.880 did you Where did you have the contract it for? I had in for 310 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:25.599 seventy five engine, all right, but you know, you know, I 311 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.640 didn't know much about seventy three back then. In the end, I'm very 312 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:33.599 happy with where I went. We did quite a lot of work. I 313 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:37.759 learned an awful lot. We were tested. I learned how to be you 314 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.960 know, I learned how to be a good nozzleman. I mean, that's 315 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:47.000 the truth. And we we did a lot of fire fire duty, and 316 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:51.160 it was the beginning of the EMS stuff. So we started doing a little 317 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:56.799 EMS stuff, not too much, but we did a little bit. And 318 00:24:56.839 --> 00:25:02.400 in the first year, we'll just after the first year, we had a 319 00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.519 fire in the building across the creek from us which wound up killing the captain 320 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:14.039 of forty two truck, James McDonald. It was a fully occupied five story 321 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:18.359 old lall tenement at right at Chief Change at nine o'clock in the morning, 322 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:22.960 and it was loaded with kids. All the kids on out of the firehouse. 323 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:26.400 We knew all the kids, and so everybody just went and dove in 324 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:33.839 the building and Cat McDonald wound up trapped in the fire apartment Pete Beefelt got 325 00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:36.240 burned, God rest his soul. He was killed on nine to eleven. 326 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:42.759 And Janny Sayita got burned. They both of them barely made it out of 327 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:47.759 the apartment. But Cat McDonald did not make it out. Wow. He 328 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:52.880 wound up in the burn center for a number of a week or two and 329 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:57.039 then he passed away. That would be pretty sobering for you, guys, 330 00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:03.079 man, the only year on the job. Yeah, it's it's exactly the 331 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:08.319 right word. It will test your metal something like that, and questioning yourself 332 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:15.839 and your ability and your responsibility and did you do everything right? Were you 333 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:22.440 prepared? Did you do your job? Like all those things you question you 334 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:27.640 know, every every single move you made. And yeah, so a really 335 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:33.079 harsh reality for a new firefighter. Yeah. So now at work, coming 336 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.599 up to the South Bronx, everybody says the Warrior is like the mid seventies, 337 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:41.359 late seventies, But you know, for more people I've heard on the 338 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:42.839 show, you know, in that area of the Bronx, it was more 339 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:48.960 towards early eighties that they were really you know, rocking, rocking in the 340 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:57.640 early eighties. I would say we we the Warriors. I think we're a 341 00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:00.839 little bit before me saying we did We did do a lot of work, 342 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:04.880 but they did certainly did so much more work than we did, and they 343 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.359 did a lot more occupied. We did a lot of vacant work because people 344 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.519 had already been burned out or chased out. But we did a ton of 345 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:21.680 vacant building fires daily. Uh. But you know, with that said, 346 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:27.720 we also did our share of of occupied stuff. Right. So I feel 347 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.200 like I learned how to be a really good engine man, a really good 348 00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:37.400 nozzle men. Uh there, and you know you learn that when when when 349 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:41.359 ship is going wrong, the best thing you can do is put the freaking 350 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:48.759 fire out, put water on the fire, and then that's right, that's 351 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:52.160 right. So that who was some of the senior guys that you had when 352 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:57.119 you got there, Well, you know, I'll Phil Scota Zarella is one 353 00:27:57.160 --> 00:28:02.200 of the guys I learned from in seventy three, Indre and Bobby Brudy, 354 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:11.079 Mike Covet Uh, you know, the officers Joe Berry and Ralph, Karen 355 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:17.880 Mattica who we had a lot of fun with, and John and uh yeah, 356 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.400 so we you know, I they had to hold me back. I 357 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.880 was. I was always in there down the hallway, and they had grabbed 358 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:30.680 me by the collar and slowed me down and and teach me. But they 359 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:36.480 did. And and I learned a lot from some guys who were there in 360 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:40.519 the real Warriors before, you know, right, who really taught me. 361 00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:41.920 And they, you know, they had to slow me down, and they 362 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:47.079 understood that I was a young, gung hold guy. But they really did 363 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:51.680 teach me an awful lot. Wear a mask back then or not? Everybody 364 00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:56.079 wear a mask? Uh? I always wore a mask. What about the 365 00:28:56.119 --> 00:29:03.519 older guys not so much? Uh I. I also wore bunker pants back 366 00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:07.839 then. And nobody was wearing bunker pants. They were wearing three quarter boots. 367 00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:11.319 But I grew up in Connecticut. We had bunker pants. So I 368 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:14.200 had my own. I had three or four pairs, and and I was 369 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:18.279 like, you know, I value myself, and listen, you got to 370 00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:22.160 keep those tools intact, you gotta, right, I don't know, these 371 00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:26.359 guys got burnt up up there the wall, through floors and things like that. 372 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:30.039 I have no I had no interest in that. And and and they, 373 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:33.920 you know, I got made fun of a lot. Uh just got 374 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:40.200 it, oh, of course, of course relentlessly. But I didn't care 375 00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:41.839 you know, I was, I was, I was wearing them. I 376 00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:47.359 didn't care, and you know, eventually the job caught up. But a 377 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:49.440 decade later, yeah, yeah, about a decade. Yeah, that's right, 378 00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:53.200 that's right. You know they would yell at you. Even maybe some 379 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:56.759 of the chiefs some time would yell at me that I wasn't in uniform, 380 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:02.039 I wasn't wearing the right gear whatever. You know. So, uh, 381 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:07.680 I had a I had an emergency back then that you know, we responded 382 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:11.720 on the you know, the pull boxes. So we were we went out 383 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:15.799 to Hunt's Point and we got out there. You know, there was no 384 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.559 voice contact or anything, so we didn't know what it was. And an 385 00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:22.319 eight year old boy had was playing football with his dad in the street and 386 00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:30.799 fell down a manhole. And so we got there. They're all around the 387 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:36.359 man hole screaming, pointing, and and we wound up. I wound up 388 00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:41.240 going down the manhole. Mike McLaughlin from forty two truck came down and went 389 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:45.440 in front of me and searched the water, and I searched the water and 390 00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:48.920 we couldn't find it. We wanted to find rescue. Wound up finding him. 391 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:55.279 Uh way down the pipeline and he was dead. So we So that 392 00:30:55.400 --> 00:31:03.000 was another like really emotional events that I remember clearly from back then. And 393 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:06.880 you know a lot of times we go and we try to help and we 394 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:15.039 lose, and that's hard to take and hard to swallow, and it hardens 395 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:19.400 your heart and it hardens your soul and and uh, you know, yes, 396 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:22.680 but you got to find a place to file that man to be okay, 397 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:26.839 you know, I mean, as you can tell now, I still 398 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.839 you know, I still feel guilty that we couldn't get it. Yeah, 399 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:37.039 I think that's a a good thing. That shows how humanity even though a 400 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:40.640 lot of the things that we we wanted to do we can't do. It's 401 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.640 not off fall to get there after the fact, do you think want you? 402 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:49.119 And if it doesn't want you, you're you're diminished. There's something lacking. 403 00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:56.319 Yeah, I'll always and everyone losing Captain McDonald, losing this young boy. 404 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:59.559 Uh and you know, and there's right, there's one hundred of those 405 00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:04.119 things that happened to us did build up. And we'll we'll talk about this 406 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:07.680 maybe a little bit later in a segment. But in the in the early 407 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:22.559 years, I was getting tested emotionally and mentally tested. So so anyhow, 408 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:28.160 that's that's who experience is, right, good in bed makes how you learn, 409 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:30.720 learn to do better. Yeah, make sure who you are really, 410 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:35.839 you know, if you think, if you learn from those experiences and you 411 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:38.799 know, file them away somewhere instead of have them scattered all over the place 412 00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:45.400 and move forward. Right, Adversity is a great teacher, right, Mikey 413 00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:52.680 exactly. So that was that was seventy three engine, right, Lakasa Kaka, 414 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:55.160 which I love. It's the greatest name of any fireouts in the Ere 415 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:59.160 city. Oh, definitely, definitely. Yeah. And where the name come 416 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:04.200 from it came. It came from the warriors where they were so busy that 417 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:08.039 they never cleaned the firehouse and you know the truck next door of La Cosa 418 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:15.400 Elefante in the engine. The firehouses were separate. They were adjoining each other, 419 00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:17.599 but they were separate. There were a lot of those around. I 420 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:22.279 think there was like one seventeen and two sixty three was one of the separate 421 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:28.799 but equal. Yeah, maybe like one twenty four. Back of these they 422 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:32.599 didn't usually they want to. Yeah, back then they didn't get along very 423 00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:38.119 well. And seventy three was out the door. I mean they were rarely 424 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:42.680 in the firehouse, so they didn't clean the firehouse. So it became known 425 00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:49.119 as Lacasa Coca and created what was the patch what it looked like. So 426 00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:54.920 it's earning the ground in the garbage can. Oh I forgot we find it. 427 00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:59.640 Yeah. I worked a LaCosta to Elephanta one time on a detail. 428 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:02.759 Yeah yeah, I remember they had a fire pit in the back. Oh 429 00:34:02.839 --> 00:34:07.960 yeah, yeah, so all they hadn't back. But yeah, I didn't 430 00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:12.119 want to say yeah that was that was then? Yeah, that was that. 431 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:21.199 Yeah, you got absolutely grudge man. Yeah, so funny. So 432 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:23.719 you did what day you did like six or seven years then? Yeah, 433 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:27.679 yeah, yeah, you must have go to how a lot of work any 434 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.960 any really you know, good jobs and you're like, holy ship, you 435 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:32.760 know, it's come to mind. I mean yeah, I mean there were 436 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:37.639 a lot of them, but but the biggest one was the the explosion over 437 00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:45.920 on one hundred and thirty second in Locusts where the backo operator hit the high 438 00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:51.559 pressure gas pipe that's right, Queens and it burned down like five or six 439 00:34:51.639 --> 00:34:57.000 buildings and killed I don't know how many killed like seven people, I think, 440 00:34:58.679 --> 00:35:01.760 and that I I would have to say that. That is the biggest 441 00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:10.280 fire ever worked at. And I mean my friend Ray Graywin from Rescue three, 442 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:15.840 who's also was the chief of the volley's out on an Island calls a 443 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.440 fire like that and no impact fire. It didn't matter if the fire department 444 00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:22.599 responded or not. It was going to do what it's going to do. 445 00:35:22.760 --> 00:35:28.719 There's nothing to do about it. No impact fire. It is. There 446 00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:36.559 is the patch, There is Ernie the Grouch nice in the garbage can. 447 00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:39.000 That six fifty five is six to fifty five Prospect Avenue. I was going 448 00:35:39.079 --> 00:35:45.960 to ask you what, Yeah, yeah, those my friend Patty Angler drew 449 00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:51.639 that patch for us, so they were already named that by the time he 450 00:35:51.719 --> 00:35:54.360 got there. Yeah, they were that before. And what was the truck? 451 00:35:54.480 --> 00:36:00.159 Same thing, Lacasa Elephante. Oh that right, that was the same 452 00:36:00.599 --> 00:36:08.559 Sorry, Yeah, and yeah, we tried to get along better than they 453 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:13.320 had in the past. Right, Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. 454 00:36:13.559 --> 00:36:15.760 A lot of the old time it flopped that. Yeah, they you know, 455 00:36:17.480 --> 00:36:22.000 you know, guys don't might change, right. So who's this young 456 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:25.639 whipper snapper kid with all this energy from Connecticut, you know, with his 457 00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:30.440 own bucket pants. Yeah, with his bunker pants, yeah, yeah, 458 00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:32.639 And and I wore and I wore a hood, you know, a no 459 00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:37.960 max hood. Oh man. They called me, they called me all kinds 460 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:46.599 of little little white riding hood and stuff, and they had that was an 461 00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:52.159 easy target. Yeah. I made it easy for them, I guess, 462 00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:57.840 you know. But that's what builds the fixed skin, right man, right? 463 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:00.599 Right? Oh? I know, yeah, you know maybe yeah. 464 00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:06.440 Did you work any details of the truck, are you guys? Oh? 465 00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:09.119 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I worked in the truck, worked up in 466 00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:14.840 eighty two and thirty one, worked out at eighty three and twenty nine, 467 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:19.679 a little bit here and there in forty one. Before it was a squad, 468 00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:22.880 it was enhanced engine in hand the right, it was right for a 469 00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:28.800 little bit enhanced engine. But then I, you know, I got to 470 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:31.079 know because I was a buff, I got to know a lot of people 471 00:37:31.159 --> 00:37:37.679 in the job. And I actually ran the fire Department's soccer team back then, 472 00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:44.559 and two lieutenants from Rescue three played on the soccer team with me, 473 00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:51.639 Pete Land and Mike Cogan, And they asked me, actually Pete Land asked 474 00:37:51.639 --> 00:37:53.960 me if I would if I wanted to go to Rescue three. And of 475 00:37:54.039 --> 00:38:02.760 course that's like a dream for me. And so he was like to go 476 00:38:02.840 --> 00:38:07.079 to a truck for a while and then come up to Rescue three and come 477 00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:10.840 work with us. Wow. Ok, yeah, yeah, no, who 478 00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:15.800 gets who gets that offer? Right from him? From Pete? You know, 479 00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:20.280 he was one of my one of my best friends back then, and 480 00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:27.559 he loves the life time you juggled your bulls played soccer. I mean you 481 00:38:27.599 --> 00:38:32.199 couldn't wait for that one. Yeah. So we we had a lot of 482 00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:37.440 fun together traveling around and playing soccer and and uh and all that. And 483 00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:43.039 so I went to four truck for a year and a half. I lived 484 00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:45.440 in Midtown, so I walked to work. So that was kind of sweet. 485 00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:52.159 And I will tell you that I I went there with six or seven 486 00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:58.199 years of experienced South Bronx firefighter experience. It was like, I do nothing 487 00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:05.880 about firefighting because it is a completely different job. In the Midtown high rise 488 00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:15.880 Manhattan Truck Company, we had a high pressure steam leak in the sub basement 489 00:39:15.960 --> 00:39:21.199 of a high rise building with a worker trapped. We were first new truck 490 00:39:21.400 --> 00:39:30.559 captain, Dave Woolley god Rest his soul was the captain and I went, 491 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:34.679 of course, as we do in South Bronx you go charging in and you 492 00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:37.639 find the guy, you bring him out. You know that's your job, 493 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:42.599 right, So I go charge, I put up it. I'm completely turtled 494 00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:50.320 up, collar up, everything flaps down, ready to go. As soon 495 00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:52.880 as I jumped off the truck, go down there, go running into the 496 00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:57.639 steam, Get on my hands and knees, start crawling. It was so 497 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:02.920 loud that it was like it was like a freight traine and you couldn't see. 498 00:40:04.840 --> 00:40:08.320 It wasn't too hot in the beginning, but I felt from behind me. 499 00:40:08.920 --> 00:40:13.960 Someone grabbed my collar and yanked me back, and it was Captain Woolley, 500 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:19.519 and he put a wooden hook in my hand, and he said, 501 00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:22.760 keep this in front of you. If it disappears, stop where you stopped 502 00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:27.400 in your tracks. And I did that, and I kept it out in 503 00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:31.480 front of me as I was searching, and all of a sudden, the 504 00:40:31.559 --> 00:40:36.239 hook disappears out of my hands and I have just like the end of the 505 00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:39.400 hook. The steam cut the hook in half, the high pressure steam. 506 00:40:40.599 --> 00:40:45.000 And if I if I if he had not done that, if he had 507 00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:49.760 died, He said, if it were chopped, it would have chopped my 508 00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:52.840 head right off. That high pressure steam. And uh, and I had 509 00:40:52.880 --> 00:41:00.599 no idea. So you know, I say that with humility because I you 510 00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:05.360 know, I had more confidence than I should have had going to a midtown 511 00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:10.119 truck where they have these very different emergencies that happened, And so I kind 512 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:15.639 of became a proby again in a lot of cases, and I had to 513 00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:21.559 learn. I remember taking window out of a commercial twelve story commercial high rise 514 00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:27.480 that had carpet in the carpet was all smoldering and on fire, and it 515 00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:32.639 was hot and very very thick smoke. And so here's the dope South Brons 516 00:41:32.719 --> 00:41:39.239 fireman with the halligan smashing the windows out of the tent or twelve floor and 517 00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:44.559 the chief is yelling, who was breaking them? Stop breaking the window? 518 00:41:44.599 --> 00:41:47.719 Stop because they're getting showered with this glass ten stories down in the front of 519 00:41:47.760 --> 00:41:52.320 them, you know. And I and I go down and there's a there's 520 00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:58.400 a shard of glass right through the the engine compartment cover of the chiefe car. 521 00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:05.159 Wow. Yeah, I'm very lucky to kill anybody. But that's what 522 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:08.400 I knew, right, And and I made my I made my mistakes, 523 00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:15.679 and I learned more from them. But and I I I give respect to 524 00:42:15.719 --> 00:42:22.159 the guys at work in the high rise places, much different job. Yeah, 525 00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:27.599 high rise sub sellers, double triple sub sellers, right, Louis loves 526 00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:32.559 those favor love something I don't know, striple sub sellers, man ship, 527 00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:37.760 shipboard, fires, subway in so so many things that can go wrong, 528 00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:44.480 like, for instance, a crane laps, right that just that just happened, 529 00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:51.159 right, yeah, happening. Yeah, So I have I have great 530 00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:55.360 respect for these guys in midtown. Did that increase your design to go to 531 00:42:55.400 --> 00:43:00.760 a rescue seeing all these crazy you know things that you know the rescue was 532 00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:04.239 going to be going to, right, Yeah, I was. I was 533 00:43:04.280 --> 00:43:07.199 happy to go back to the Bronx hall On Fire department, Yeah, right, 534 00:43:10.039 --> 00:43:13.840 where I felt pretty comfortable. You know. So how long did you 535 00:43:13.880 --> 00:43:19.320 stayed at For just a year and a half and then you you called uncle 536 00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:21.280 Pete up and You're like, I'm ready. Well it was you know, 537 00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:23.719 it was you know, it was up to when they had a spot open 538 00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:29.280 and everything like that. And who was the captain There wasn't, no, 539 00:43:29.559 --> 00:43:32.199 no, it was long before him. It was a Jack Calderone at the 540 00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:37.519 time. Okay, the great guy another rescue for fly fighter. Yeah, 541 00:43:37.559 --> 00:43:38.920 he's the guy does all the books about the Riggs, right, that's right. 542 00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:46.159 Yeah, Avid photo guy, Ye, Avid buff like me and or 543 00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:52.039 I like him really and yeah, so we we had some good years up 544 00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:59.239 there together with Jack as captain and Peter his mind lieutenant, and we were 545 00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:01.880 we were located one hundred and eighty first week for the first six months in 546 00:44:02.280 --> 00:44:07.920 Washington Heights and then we moved over to our own firehouse in in uh on 547 00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:15.639 East Tremont In Park Avenue, UH in the Bronx we actually had the firehouse 548 00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:20.719 had been it was a vacant firehouse and it was condemned by the building department. 549 00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:23.920 Uh. And we didn't pay any attention to that. We we went 550 00:44:23.960 --> 00:44:30.840 in and we shored up the apparatus floor with our with our jacks so the 551 00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:36.079 break wouldn't fall into the basement, okay, because we really wanted to be 552 00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:39.679 in our own spot. So so in the end it was a good move. 553 00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:44.239 Yeah. Who are so many guys that we talked about hockey before, 554 00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:49.880 Johnny Hopkins Johnny Hopkins of course. Uh. But you know the guy's Mickey 555 00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:58.599 Convoy who's still there today radio the other day unbelievable and you had you know, 556 00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:02.760 well, we we to mister Tinny. Conrad Tinney was like the senior 557 00:45:02.840 --> 00:45:08.440 man, probably the most respected guy and rescue three at the time. Yeah, 558 00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:10.960 he was a buyman and rest before when I got on the job in 559 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:15.599 eighty one. In eighty one, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we I 560 00:45:15.639 --> 00:45:20.719 don't call him Connie, I'll call him mister Timmy. Yeah, Marshal too, 561 00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:25.000 wasn't he Yeah yeah, fire Markle Yeah, so you know he was 562 00:45:25.039 --> 00:45:31.119 probably for me. He was the senior man, a to fear and to 563 00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:37.239 learn from. H. And then we had Ray Gray Wyn and we had 564 00:45:37.679 --> 00:45:44.679 Stam Malisi and Pete Romeo, Uh, Danny McDonough, Chris Blackwell, God 565 00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:47.519 rest his soul, who I saw in this in this in the North Tower 566 00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:55.000 on September eleventh before he perished, who was really like like like he was 567 00:45:55.079 --> 00:46:00.280 really like a real brother to me, like a blood brother. H loved 568 00:46:00.360 --> 00:46:07.440 Chris with all my heart. Uh yeah, John. We we had we 569 00:46:07.599 --> 00:46:12.519 had Matt fun Ray Ray Maisenheimer another one that God rest soul. We had 570 00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:16.199 so much fun with him. He's he is the man with the largest head 571 00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:22.639 I've ever seen in my life. We called it, we called him buffalo 572 00:46:22.760 --> 00:46:29.960 head. Was completely appropriate. M We had the we had the collapse rig. 573 00:46:30.280 --> 00:46:32.000 We had the we were the only collapse unit in the city back to 574 00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:37.599 him. So we had first an old rescue truck that was loaded with wood 575 00:46:37.679 --> 00:46:40.960 and shoring. Uh. And then we had attractor trailer truck. U. 576 00:46:42.920 --> 00:46:49.320 There was really a rolling lumberyard. And so we would respond city wide. 577 00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.920 If we had something that Staten Island, we would drive down the New Jersey 578 00:46:52.039 --> 00:46:55.719 Turnpike with our lights and sirens on, which was kind of fun to do. 579 00:46:58.360 --> 00:47:02.400 Yeah, was Johnny Collapse day yet? Oh? Yeah, Johnny Collapse 580 00:47:02.480 --> 00:47:05.760 is singing man, one of the more senior than me. I'll say, 581 00:47:06.760 --> 00:47:08.679 Johnny and I got along very well. I learned a lot from him, 582 00:47:10.840 --> 00:47:15.039 and and yeah, we we were kind of the f troops, you know. 583 00:47:15.199 --> 00:47:19.760 We we didn't, I don't know, we were just different. But 584 00:47:20.159 --> 00:47:22.880 we we got the job done when the job needed to get done, and 585 00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:29.519 otherwise we had fun. You know. So how did the other companies work 586 00:47:29.559 --> 00:47:32.199 with Rescue three? Was it? Because? Yeah, so we were the 587 00:47:32.239 --> 00:47:36.760 opposite of rescue too, right, we were. We were known as the 588 00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:42.000 gentleman's rescue, right, and so we would even even if we got in 589 00:47:42.159 --> 00:47:45.400 like twenty seven trucks right around the corner and you know, even if we 590 00:47:45.480 --> 00:47:46.920 got in, you know, a little bit in front of them or whatever, 591 00:47:47.039 --> 00:47:51.159 we always gave them the first new job or whatever. You know. 592 00:47:51.559 --> 00:48:00.960 We I remember a fire in the hole that that was. It was very 593 00:48:00.039 --> 00:48:06.599 difficult, and the sixty nine engine was having a very hard time. And 594 00:48:06.719 --> 00:48:10.400 they never have a hard time. They are they are the very best engine 595 00:48:10.440 --> 00:48:15.800 company in the world, like they're one of those just those great engines. 596 00:48:15.639 --> 00:48:20.000 And uh, they were just having a real hard time. And I wound 597 00:48:20.119 --> 00:48:22.599 up getting up near the nozzle and there was a young guy in the nozzle 598 00:48:22.679 --> 00:48:25.400 and I told him to shut it, shut it down, let me figure 599 00:48:25.440 --> 00:48:30.880 this out. And I went out in front of him and I can feel 600 00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:35.159 the fire, you know, just brushing me on the right hand side. 601 00:48:35.199 --> 00:48:37.840 And I'm like, where's this coming from? And I crawled in a little 602 00:48:37.920 --> 00:48:43.800 further and I froll back and I grabbed him and I said, Okay, 603 00:48:43.880 --> 00:48:45.760 this is what we're going to do. We're going to move to the right. 604 00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:47.679 There's a there's a door. We're going to go in the door together. 605 00:48:47.840 --> 00:48:52.239 I'm not leaving you, but you're going to do this. And it 606 00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:54.840 was a drug it was a drug den, and they had broken through one 607 00:48:54.920 --> 00:49:00.159 closet, the back of a closet into the back of the closet of the 608 00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:04.559 adjoining apartment, and the actual apartment that was on fire was the adjoining apartment. 609 00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:07.400 But it was coming through that opening through the closets, and it was 610 00:49:07.480 --> 00:49:13.280 hard to figure out, right, But I took the young guy and we 611 00:49:13.400 --> 00:49:16.440 went through, and he took the nozzle all the way through into a closet, 612 00:49:16.719 --> 00:49:22.320 through the wall, into the back closet of the adjoining apartment, and 613 00:49:22.400 --> 00:49:25.079 then through the whole next apartment and he put the whole fire out. Wow. 614 00:49:25.880 --> 00:49:31.880 And I would never be a guy that took the nozzle from him and 615 00:49:32.039 --> 00:49:37.440 did it without him what I wanted to do, figure it out and help 616 00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:42.360 him learn right, and uh, and that's what we did. It was 617 00:49:42.719 --> 00:49:47.320 it was one of one of my proudest moments in being in the Gentleman's Rescue. 618 00:49:49.119 --> 00:49:52.119 Uh, that that we we weren't like that with other companies. You 619 00:49:52.199 --> 00:49:54.320 know, we didn't jump in front of him or try and hurt him, 620 00:49:54.480 --> 00:50:00.039 or or try and upshine them or anything like that. It was always try 621 00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:04.440 to help each other. I mean, as far as I knew, right, 622 00:50:05.199 --> 00:50:07.159 filling the gaps. I've heard that before. The gentleman's rescue. I've 623 00:50:07.159 --> 00:50:10.119 heard that if I may real quick. You know, the thing about any 624 00:50:10.199 --> 00:50:14.480 rescue company is that you're not just going to the fires. Excuse me. 625 00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:16.239 It's the main thing, of course, and that's the passion of any firemen. 626 00:50:16.679 --> 00:50:19.880 But around this time in the nineties, when you get there in nineteen 627 00:50:19.960 --> 00:50:23.400 ninety two, you're seeing fire duty go down from what it was. Needy's 628 00:50:23.400 --> 00:50:25.320 still a lot of work, but going down from what it was, and 629 00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:30.239 you're seeing more of an emphasis on the technical side of things. There's MBAs 630 00:50:30.320 --> 00:50:32.480 to go to, there's collapses to go to. So as far as that 631 00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:37.519 aspect and being a citywide unit, even though you still love going to fires, 632 00:50:37.800 --> 00:50:40.039 what were some of your favorite not that you're happy it's happening, non 633 00:50:40.199 --> 00:50:45.039 fire emergencies to respond to where you could put those technical skills to excuse me, 634 00:50:45.079 --> 00:50:47.639 technical skills to good use. It's a good question. I didn't really 635 00:50:47.800 --> 00:50:53.199 like all the technical stuff so much. I liked I did like the fires, 636 00:50:55.199 --> 00:51:00.000 but we had, you know, we had different collapses. I remember 637 00:51:00.760 --> 00:51:02.920 fire, fire and collapse, right. I remember one of the guys I 638 00:51:04.119 --> 00:51:13.440 neglected to mention was David Dangerfield. Yeah, I'm sorry. He went to 639 00:51:13.679 --> 00:51:20.119 seventy. Yeah, he was seventy. One of one of the best fire 640 00:51:20.199 --> 00:51:24.679 men I ever worked with in my career, a great friend of mine. 641 00:51:28.119 --> 00:51:31.440 I loved him, so I had Yeah, God rest his soul. Also, 642 00:51:32.320 --> 00:51:38.400 uh, we had too. We had David Drury and David Dangerfield, 643 00:51:39.199 --> 00:51:45.800 right, that's yeah, another great guy. We called them Salt and Pepper 644 00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:52.119 because they were both d d so Dad. So Drury was Salt, Dingerfield 645 00:51:52.199 --> 00:51:54.880 was Pepper. So that's what was their nicknames. And I remember having this 646 00:51:55.039 --> 00:52:00.480 fire not too far from the firehouse, and I was I think I was 647 00:52:00.559 --> 00:52:05.480 on the first floor and David Dangerfield Pepper went up to the second floor doing 648 00:52:05.559 --> 00:52:10.639 the search, and the second floor collapsed into the first floor, and all 649 00:52:10.679 --> 00:52:16.360 of a sudden, I see Dangerfield. Pepper is right in front of me. 650 00:52:16.519 --> 00:52:21.559 The collapse leaned to it missed me, and all of a sudden he 651 00:52:21.639 --> 00:52:24.559 slid down the floor and he was standing in front of me, and I 652 00:52:24.679 --> 00:52:27.920 was like, Pepper, what are you doing here? He's like, I 653 00:52:27.960 --> 00:52:31.239 don't know, floor collapsed. I'm okay, okay, yeah, and we 654 00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:37.519 just kept doing our thing, right, so we did. I'm trying to 655 00:52:37.519 --> 00:52:43.159 think of some major collapse stuff. We did. We were involved in a 656 00:52:43.280 --> 00:52:53.159 lot of stuff. I never really did a lot of like tunneling stuff myself, 657 00:52:54.440 --> 00:52:58.280 just because it never I was never in that position. I guess, 658 00:53:01.760 --> 00:53:05.360 yeah, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't know about it. Tech 659 00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:12.159 work we did. We did a lot of fires, and uh, I'm 660 00:53:12.199 --> 00:53:15.679 not bringing it. You know, were you guys all Roco trained by then? 661 00:53:15.920 --> 00:53:17.679 We you guys trained? Yeah, we had all you know and all 662 00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:23.239 that and and and we we know we did do that. I probably I 663 00:53:23.480 --> 00:53:28.840 would say I did more of that in training than the real life. All 664 00:53:28.880 --> 00:53:32.199 right, now it's night. We had we had Johnny collapse, So just 665 00:53:32.280 --> 00:53:39.719 send Johnny. He's the man, the man collapse. Nobody do collapse like 666 00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:45.599 him. Dope, that's for sure. Man. So rescue three. So 667 00:53:45.719 --> 00:53:49.440 you guys had the Bronx and you would come down hall and rescue one would 668 00:53:49.440 --> 00:53:52.840 go up to what like one one two oh or one fourteen? How far 669 00:53:52.880 --> 00:53:55.159 would rest of one book one one? What was it? One two five 670 00:53:55.199 --> 00:53:59.679 on the east side on the east side and one two o on the west 671 00:53:59.679 --> 00:54:04.519 side. It was around the hundred twenty fifth, right, So yeah, 672 00:54:04.599 --> 00:54:07.679 So we did a lot of work in Harlem, in Washington, heights. 673 00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:14.079 And then, you know, back then it was work. The fires were 674 00:54:14.199 --> 00:54:21.880 around the firehouse in that kind of mid Bronx, i'd say, around Tree 675 00:54:21.920 --> 00:54:25.159 Mount Avenue and over towards seventy five and thirty three and forty fifty sixty two 676 00:54:25.199 --> 00:54:31.519 engine like over that way. We did a lot of work. And and 677 00:54:31.639 --> 00:54:35.639 then we you know, we you know, we we you know, we 678 00:54:35.719 --> 00:54:37.960 always tease rescue too, right, they called us out themselves. You know, 679 00:54:38.039 --> 00:54:43.760 Brooklyn's the borough of fire. And my retort to that is, yeah, 680 00:54:43.880 --> 00:54:47.400 it's the land of of short buildings and tall stories. I've had a 681 00:54:47.440 --> 00:54:53.679 lot of bronze guys tell me that about. Yeah, but we did, 682 00:54:53.840 --> 00:54:57.920 you know, we did our we did our share back then. We you 683 00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:00.800 know, back then it was not the north bron it's like it is now. 684 00:55:01.480 --> 00:55:06.760 It was more you know, more south, more west. Yeah, 685 00:55:06.840 --> 00:55:10.199 that works all going up north now right a lot sixty two thirty two and 686 00:55:12.960 --> 00:55:15.360 up there. And that's all after my time. I mean I left there 687 00:55:15.400 --> 00:55:20.239 in ninety eight as a fireman, so I've been going a long time. 688 00:55:22.599 --> 00:55:24.119 You've been out there for a long time, that's for sure. Many eight. 689 00:55:25.400 --> 00:55:28.800 You look pretty good, though, man, you do keep yourself full 690 00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:31.280 up until young. Look at you. I drank wine, I smoked cigars, 691 00:55:31.800 --> 00:55:38.119 good Man good Man, BLUs America. So I got to know how 692 00:55:38.159 --> 00:55:44.440 you get into the and ninety eight you go to OEM. How did that 693 00:55:44.559 --> 00:55:46.800 whole thing come about? How do they you have a background in it? 694 00:55:47.239 --> 00:55:52.199 They call looking for you, guys. Nah, it's it's again. It's 695 00:55:52.280 --> 00:55:59.000 it's who you're friends with, right, So I was. I became best 696 00:55:59.039 --> 00:56:02.360 friends with Captain Tayrry Hatton when he was he was my lieutenant for truck for 697 00:56:02.400 --> 00:56:08.480 a little bit before he got promoted to captain, and he became my best 698 00:56:08.519 --> 00:56:14.639 friend, and we were boys for a few years. And then he met 699 00:56:15.519 --> 00:56:22.559 the love of his life, bet Patrol, who he been married. Yeah's 700 00:56:22.960 --> 00:56:28.719 secretary, Yeah, he was. She was the mayor's personal assistant. She 701 00:56:28.880 --> 00:56:31.880 was actually a US marshall while he was a US attorney. That's how they 702 00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:35.639 knew each other. And then when he became mayor, she went with him 703 00:56:36.559 --> 00:56:42.920 to the mayor's office, and and myself and Terry and Beth became best friends 704 00:56:43.639 --> 00:56:45.800 and we hung out all the time together. And so you know, I 705 00:56:46.039 --> 00:56:50.239 kind of knew I was in that crowd. I knew all those folks and 706 00:56:51.239 --> 00:56:55.519 the mayor appointed Jerry Howard as the first director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency 707 00:56:55.599 --> 00:57:00.440 Management, and and Jerry had been after me for a few years to go 708 00:57:00.800 --> 00:57:05.840 to make the move from rescue, but I wasn't ready. I was enjoying 709 00:57:05.920 --> 00:57:08.800 rescue and all that, and and I really didn't want to go. So 710 00:57:08.880 --> 00:57:15.679 I resisted for a couple of years, and then in nine finally I finally 711 00:57:15.800 --> 00:57:21.719 went. And you know, it is what it is. I made the 712 00:57:21.800 --> 00:57:23.960 move. And you know, looking back on it now, if I had 713 00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:28.679 stayed in Rescue three, there was a fair chance that I wouldn't been killed 714 00:57:28.719 --> 00:57:35.280 on nine to eleven. So you know, Terry was killed, and as 715 00:57:35.360 --> 00:57:40.159 you know, almost of the on duty Special Operations command of getting Fire Department 716 00:57:40.280 --> 00:57:45.719 was killed. So we'll we'll get into that later. But I went to 717 00:57:45.840 --> 00:57:52.719 OEM. I was a field responder for them for you know, represent the 718 00:57:52.800 --> 00:58:00.760 mayor and major emergencies. And within that group, I got promoted to supervisor 719 00:58:00.840 --> 00:58:06.159 Field Operations. And so from ninety eighty two thousand and one, that's what 720 00:58:06.320 --> 00:58:12.199 happened. We did a lot of events. One of my first big events 721 00:58:12.239 --> 00:58:16.920 citywide events was the West Nile virus, which we discovered in a park of 722 00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:22.599 queens that started to kill. We noticed the pattern. It was starting to 723 00:58:22.679 --> 00:58:28.639 kill elderly folks out there in the hospitals, and so we knew something was 724 00:58:28.639 --> 00:58:37.360 wrong. So I wind up loading helicopters with fifty five gallon drums of malathion 725 00:58:37.880 --> 00:58:45.000 to spray on the parks to kill the mosquitos. And you know, malathion 726 00:58:45.119 --> 00:58:49.400 is probably not a very good thing to be pouring out of the fifty five 727 00:58:52.639 --> 00:58:59.320 So I was doing that back then. We did all we skipped over the 728 00:58:59.400 --> 00:59:04.960 whole FEMA Urban Search and Rescue thing right when I was still in Rescue three. 729 00:59:05.800 --> 00:59:07.599 I forgot about that. I don't have that on the list here, 730 00:59:07.639 --> 00:59:10.400 fellow. Yeah we didn't. Yeah, we didn't talk about it, all 731 00:59:10.480 --> 00:59:15.000 right, Yeah, all right, we'll come back. Well, you know, 732 00:59:15.440 --> 00:59:20.599 so you know, Ray Downey was my friend, and you know, 733 00:59:20.760 --> 00:59:29.440 our friend a lot of us. And I was working in rescue two in 734 00:59:30.119 --> 00:59:34.440 what years it maybe five? Right, So the first bombing of the World 735 00:59:34.480 --> 00:59:38.480 Trade Center in ninety three, I had just got gotten off of work at 736 00:59:38.519 --> 00:59:45.880 rescue three in the morning, and I came home and I was we were 737 00:59:45.960 --> 00:59:51.000 up at my dirty bit busy night, and so I came home, I 738 00:59:51.119 --> 00:59:54.119 jumped in the shower, and when I came out of the shower, like 739 00:59:54.320 --> 01:00:00.440 the sirens were going crazy and radios were screaming. And I took the subway 740 01:00:00.519 --> 01:00:06.079 down to the well the First World Trade Center bombing, and I went to 741 01:00:06.159 --> 01:00:07.599 the chief and I said, I'm a rescue fireman, Rescue three. Can 742 01:00:07.679 --> 01:00:10.079 I help? I'm off duty, but can I help? And he said, 743 01:00:10.159 --> 01:00:14.320 yeah, one of your guys is trapped in the basement, fell and 744 01:00:14.519 --> 01:00:17.239 fell in the crater, right, Kevin Chet, my proby school buddy, 745 01:00:19.039 --> 01:00:21.760 and he's like, get some gear and get in there and see help. 746 01:00:22.159 --> 01:00:24.719 And so by the time I got the gear and got in there, they 747 01:00:24.760 --> 01:00:31.719 were already getting them out. And I wound up fiving one hundred floors one 748 01:00:31.800 --> 01:00:37.239 hundred and ten floors in that really heavy car. I call it car fire, 749 01:00:37.360 --> 01:00:42.079 black car fire smoke, searching the floors for the stair one force for 750 01:00:42.159 --> 01:00:46.320 people. So I did that one and then and then I was working in 751 01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:58.559 rescue two the day the Oklahoma City bombing happened, and they were asking around 752 01:00:58.559 --> 01:01:00.360 and who can get on a plane tonight. We'll get on play tonight. 753 01:01:00.440 --> 01:01:05.239 So I told him I could, and I wound up on the plane going 754 01:01:05.960 --> 01:01:10.840 with Chief Downey and Terry Hatton going out to Oklahoma City. We spent seven 755 01:01:10.960 --> 01:01:15.760 nights on the pile there searching the rubble to no avail. We never found 756 01:01:15.760 --> 01:01:24.400 anyone alive, but we tried, and then with the Urban Search and Rescue 757 01:01:24.440 --> 01:01:30.559 Team. I also was embedded at the Olympics in Atlanta in ninety six. 758 01:01:31.880 --> 01:01:37.679 The bottom off there and we jumped on the black Hawks and they slung all 759 01:01:37.719 --> 01:01:43.159 our gear and we were flying to the scene of the bombing when they turned 760 01:01:43.239 --> 01:01:46.239 us around and said the local responders are going to handle it. So we 761 01:01:46.519 --> 01:01:50.719 wound up not actually getting to the scene of the bombing there, but we 762 01:01:50.800 --> 01:01:55.880 were ready to go. So anyhow, I left that whole part out by 763 01:01:59.039 --> 01:02:04.880 experiments, I guess briefly. I know this was around the time you went 764 01:02:04.920 --> 01:02:09.199 to o EM But when you get Hurricane George in nineteen ninety eight and FEMA 765 01:02:09.320 --> 01:02:13.000 was sent down at that at least Urban Search and Rescue Task Force one. 766 01:02:13.440 --> 01:02:15.840 Did you have a hand in going down to the DR No, that was 767 01:02:17.559 --> 01:02:21.800 I didn't go. I think that. I think they actually took guys who 768 01:02:21.840 --> 01:02:28.159 spoke Spanish, which which made some sense, and I forget there was something 769 01:02:28.199 --> 01:02:30.360 else going on then that I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I 770 01:02:30.360 --> 01:02:34.000 don't think I even got invited to be a part of that. In fact, 771 01:02:34.000 --> 01:02:37.039 I don't know if it was. I think it might have just been 772 01:02:37.079 --> 01:02:40.360 in New York City Fire Department itself sent people down. I'm not sure if 773 01:02:40.400 --> 01:02:45.079 it was, like ohem, I don't actually remember what was in that. 774 01:02:45.320 --> 01:02:47.760 I think that was a main Dickens thing. If I recall, right, 775 01:02:49.559 --> 01:02:54.159 this is ninety eight, so it's Juliani. But yeah, anyhow, I 776 01:02:54.400 --> 01:03:00.000 know I was not involved in that at all, and so okay, so 777 01:03:00.119 --> 01:03:05.000 now, oh we am ninety eight. I'm working there. A few different 778 01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:10.400 things happened where I would say we were very successful in the experiment of having 779 01:03:10.480 --> 01:03:19.440 a Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. It was very effective in changing the way 780 01:03:21.440 --> 01:03:29.519 interagency cooperation occurred. I would say it helped foster a better relationship between p 781 01:03:29.679 --> 01:03:38.760 D and FD, between KANID and the city. I think it was a 782 01:03:38.920 --> 01:03:45.559 really good program the mayor started, and you know, now over twenty years 783 01:03:45.639 --> 01:03:51.480 later, you can see, you know, there's two hundred and fifty employees 784 01:03:51.639 --> 01:03:57.079 at the Department of Emergency Management, and so that I think that kind of 785 01:03:57.119 --> 01:04:03.280 tells you that it was indeeded entity to create and I was honored to be 786 01:04:03.360 --> 01:04:09.280 there at the beginning, to be a part of it. And you know, 787 01:04:09.559 --> 01:04:16.400 all of that leads to September eleventh. Office was seven World Trade Center 788 01:04:16.440 --> 01:04:23.360 and twenty third floor. Let us step there for you unless you want to 789 01:04:23.400 --> 01:04:26.679 talk more you get there. No, I mean, I just wanted to 790 01:04:26.719 --> 01:04:30.039 ask you a few questions about oh EM, like how many people you know 791 01:04:30.440 --> 01:04:33.239 you said that you were there, and how what are they call agents? 792 01:04:33.320 --> 01:04:39.199 What were they calling them or field responders? Responded? How many were there 793 01:04:39.199 --> 01:04:43.079 at the time that you went there? So, oh, I don't know, 794 01:04:44.000 --> 01:04:48.599 a dozen or twenty somewhere in there. So did you still work for 795 01:04:48.639 --> 01:04:54.639 the fire department or are you now working for OHEM? You're still getting paid 796 01:04:54.679 --> 01:05:00.719 by the fire department, still still a firefighter, h getting reimbursed. You 797 01:05:00.800 --> 01:05:05.719 know, the city was whatever was it was all city, so that was 798 01:05:05.800 --> 01:05:12.840 then. You know, they detailed uh, firefighters, police officers, sanitation 799 01:05:13.039 --> 01:05:18.440 police, people from the health department, you know, all all a mix 800 01:05:18.559 --> 01:05:27.719 of people who could contribute to whatever kind of emergency disaster. But you know 801 01:05:29.360 --> 01:05:33.400 New York City's infrastructures underground, our electric our steam, our gas, our 802 01:05:33.519 --> 01:05:41.079 subways, our communications. It's all buried underground. And when you have a 803 01:05:41.280 --> 01:05:46.519 water main break, it destroys everything. And so just for a simple water 804 01:05:46.639 --> 01:05:57.000 main break, you might have twenty five different entities that are involved in fixing 805 01:05:57.079 --> 01:06:01.239 the problem, right Dot, I mean, it's just endless. And so 806 01:06:01.480 --> 01:06:06.280 having an OEM, especially in the complexity of New York City, I think 807 01:06:06.519 --> 01:06:14.400 is is is a huge benefit negatary, right, just somebody to juggle all 808 01:06:14.480 --> 01:06:16.639 those things to make them work with them. Yeah, I mean, you're 809 01:06:16.679 --> 01:06:21.519 you're trying to your customers, your customers, the citizens of New York, 810 01:06:21.599 --> 01:06:27.639 and you know, if they're losing their subway or their gas or their electric 811 01:06:27.840 --> 01:06:30.440 or whatever it is, it's your job to get that back to them as 812 01:06:30.559 --> 01:06:35.960 quickly as possible. So having a coordinating agency like OHEM in a city like 813 01:06:36.079 --> 01:06:43.599 New York is tremendously beneficial, beneficial I think you know we we not not 814 01:06:43.800 --> 01:06:47.039 me. I won't take credit for this, but h our office, you 815 01:06:47.119 --> 01:06:55.840 know, worked with the Health Department to identify the West Nile virus through statistics 816 01:06:55.880 --> 01:07:00.360 from the hospitals on who is getting sick. You know it would without the 817 01:07:00.480 --> 01:07:05.119 leadership of our It was actually the guys from fd M y e MS that 818 01:07:05.280 --> 01:07:15.480 came up with the idea to statistically measure the hospitalizations in emergency room traffic every 819 01:07:15.519 --> 01:07:20.599 morning. So they do that every morning, and you see a trend a 820 01:07:20.679 --> 01:07:25.320 week before you would have noticed it. Otherwise you start to see a trend 821 01:07:25.480 --> 01:07:31.360 so obscure things like that. OHEM is pretty good at we've got I think 822 01:07:31.480 --> 01:07:34.199 to this date, I got much better at it. Were you the only 823 01:07:34.239 --> 01:07:42.039 guy from the fire side, No, there were there were all around. 824 01:07:42.119 --> 01:07:48.079 There were probably ten or fifteen of us that were there, and the group 825 01:07:48.159 --> 01:07:57.119 I worked with, there were about fifteen fireman, cops, sanitation cop, 826 01:07:58.079 --> 01:08:02.760 health department guys that were kind of the responders who went out in the field 827 01:08:03.639 --> 01:08:10.519 with the jacket on the mayor's office and you know, represented the banner at 828 01:08:10.599 --> 01:08:15.800 the scene of these bigger emergencies. And we were almost never the incident commander. 829 01:08:15.920 --> 01:08:19.720 We were always trying to help the incident commander, whoever that was. 830 01:08:21.640 --> 01:08:24.840 If I might ask real quick as well, and I don't mean to catch 831 01:08:24.960 --> 01:08:27.720 up Card with this question, but he bears mentioning I had the chance to 832 01:08:27.800 --> 01:08:30.279 talk with Steve Curro a while ago, who you worked with an OEM who 833 01:08:30.359 --> 01:08:33.000 was a long time the MS guy. Great guy, and you mentioned Jerry 834 01:08:33.039 --> 01:08:36.319 Howard, who passed away recently after a battle with illness. There was a 835 01:08:36.520 --> 01:08:41.119 visionary and there was somebody. If there was ever the right guy to start 836 01:08:41.199 --> 01:08:44.159 up OEM in ninety six, it was him. When you look back on 837 01:08:44.239 --> 01:08:45.960 your time working with the guy like Jerry, what are your fondest memories of 838 01:08:46.039 --> 01:08:48.279 him? And what do you say were the biggest lessons you learn from him? 839 01:08:49.520 --> 01:08:56.119 That guy's brain was in a different place. Man he was he understood, 840 01:08:56.640 --> 01:09:00.760 he understood what it could be. Right. He understood that in twenty 841 01:09:00.880 --> 01:09:05.800 years there would be two hundred and fifty employees in the Department of Emergency Management 842 01:09:05.880 --> 01:09:11.960 in New York City. And he understood that it was so important. It 843 01:09:12.079 --> 01:09:17.640 was something that New York City was missing so badly. And he understood that 844 01:09:18.239 --> 01:09:23.720 he understood what it could be. So to call Jerry a visionary is exactly 845 01:09:23.920 --> 01:09:28.960 right. I learned. I didn't know how to build the command center, 846 01:09:29.760 --> 01:09:34.479 you know, I didn't know a lot of this stuff, but he certainly 847 01:09:34.560 --> 01:09:40.600 taught us. I want to He's the reason I went to Washington to work 848 01:09:40.680 --> 01:09:45.880 for the Defense is because I followed him, and so I guess I would 849 01:09:45.920 --> 01:09:53.640 say I was a quick learner, but I was ignorant of it when I 850 01:09:53.720 --> 01:09:58.479 first went there, and he taught me and some other guys taught me about 851 01:09:58.520 --> 01:10:04.119 what emergency management was and how important it was to coordinate, and I feel 852 01:10:04.119 --> 01:10:10.640 like I picked up on it pretty quickly, but I never would have known 853 01:10:10.680 --> 01:10:15.159 this stuff without a cherry. I was gonna ask you too. So you 854 01:10:15.199 --> 01:10:18.800 guys were your office was located at the Trade Center, right, That's where 855 01:10:19.279 --> 01:10:24.920 the main office was. Yeah, you know, as controversial as it is, 856 01:10:25.039 --> 01:10:28.920 it was on the twenty third floor of a high rise near City Hall, 857 01:10:29.520 --> 01:10:32.920 which is one of the reasons that it was chosen. It was also 858 01:10:33.000 --> 01:10:40.960 in a building that housed other federal agencies that we had relationships with, so 859 01:10:41.239 --> 01:10:46.039 it was a good place for that reason, and then it was a bad 860 01:10:46.079 --> 01:10:51.920 place for other reasons. It was you know, obviously we don't now that 861 01:10:53.119 --> 01:10:57.079 was destroyed on nine to eleven. So we built a bunker on the twenty 862 01:10:57.159 --> 01:11:02.279 third floor of a high rise building and it was state of the art. 863 01:11:02.319 --> 01:11:06.880 It was Star Wars. There were kind of no expenses spared. It was 864 01:11:06.960 --> 01:11:14.600 our office, and uh, you know, we were we were really good 865 01:11:14.680 --> 01:11:17.560 at what he did. I think because of Jerry and Steve, like Steve 866 01:11:17.640 --> 01:11:23.239 Kerr like, there were guys that really understood emergency management. It's quite a 867 01:11:23.319 --> 01:11:27.960 learning curve in too. There was a lot to learn. Mistakes could be 868 01:11:28.039 --> 01:11:32.800 made, yeah, for sure, for sure. And you know when when 869 01:11:32.840 --> 01:11:36.399 it came to the health department, what the heck did Tim fireman Tim Brown 870 01:11:36.479 --> 01:11:40.279 know about you know about that stuff? Like I didn't know. I had 871 01:11:40.319 --> 01:11:48.279 to try to be smart and learn quickly from that stuff. So you know, 872 01:11:48.359 --> 01:11:55.319 I tried to. I tried to just help and if I didn't know 873 01:11:55.359 --> 01:12:00.479 anything, to stay out of the way, pass a long information the chain, 874 01:12:00.840 --> 01:12:04.399 h make sure. In the end, it was our job to make 875 01:12:04.439 --> 01:12:11.600 sure that mayor was correctly and properly informed of what was happening. And when 876 01:12:11.640 --> 01:12:15.479 you have a mayor like Rudy, you don't want to screw that up. 877 01:12:16.520 --> 01:12:21.680 You want you want it to be accurate. So guys would lead from the 878 01:12:21.760 --> 01:12:28.720 front like, oh yeah, you know this, not at that would lead 879 01:12:28.800 --> 01:12:32.840 like he. I don't I don't know any mayor that has led like him 880 01:12:35.399 --> 01:12:43.640 ever since him. Uh. He he was involved. He loved being you 881 01:12:43.720 --> 01:12:46.560 know, he loved the fire department, He loved the Police Department. A. 882 01:12:47.760 --> 01:12:56.039 He he he supported us. You know, other guys I have a 883 01:12:56.079 --> 01:13:00.279 different opinion. But he was my friend. He's my friend to this day. 884 01:13:00.640 --> 01:13:09.359 And and I think that he's the one that had the vision. And 885 01:13:10.039 --> 01:13:20.720 I think he encouraged and allowed Jerry Howard to run with that. And and 886 01:13:20.920 --> 01:13:24.800 we did do that, and we did it very successfully for a number of 887 01:13:24.920 --> 01:13:33.720 years until politics got and that. Yeah. Well, one thing about Rudy 888 01:13:33.800 --> 01:13:38.920 though, anytime something happened in the paper is about finding or cops or anything, 889 01:13:39.399 --> 01:13:42.279 he always gave them the benefit of the doubt. He always said, 890 01:13:42.800 --> 01:13:45.359 let's see how this works out, Let's get all the facts, you know. 891 01:13:45.680 --> 01:13:47.680 Always give the guys the benefit of the doubt, no matter how bad 892 01:13:47.760 --> 01:13:51.159 it looked on the news or whatever was going on. You know, I 893 01:13:51.279 --> 01:13:56.960 am, I am a fan of his. I will say that loudly and 894 01:13:57.039 --> 01:14:03.359 proudly anytime. And and he did. He did a lot for New York 895 01:14:03.479 --> 01:14:09.600 before eleven, right we you know, we call him America's mayor after I 896 01:14:09.800 --> 01:14:15.119 live in But he did a lot for New York before now. Cleaned up 897 01:14:15.119 --> 01:14:18.199 a lot of crime. Man. Yeah, he took the hand. He 898 01:14:18.319 --> 01:14:25.079 made the city going entity again. Yeah, you know, the place that 899 01:14:25.239 --> 01:14:29.199 you could do business at and visit. Yeah, a lot safer and working. 900 01:14:29.680 --> 01:14:32.079 Let police do police work, bros. But he did you know yeah 901 01:14:33.199 --> 01:14:41.520 yeah, so yeah, so I did that for a while and then uh, 902 01:14:41.800 --> 01:14:49.039 you know, September eleventh happened and it changed everything, and yeah, 903 01:14:49.319 --> 01:15:00.800 it broke my heart and continues to break my heart to this day. I 904 01:15:00.880 --> 01:15:04.399 miss I know I'm not the only one, but I miss a lot of 905 01:15:04.439 --> 01:15:14.039 my friends every day that they're not here, and I've tried to So I've 906 01:15:14.119 --> 01:15:18.439 only learned this in the last couple of years, or I guess realized that. 907 01:15:18.720 --> 01:15:26.279 On September eleventh, I ceased being in New York City fireman and I 908 01:15:26.760 --> 01:15:32.039 began being a nine to eleven fire because I got stuck in nine to eleven 909 01:15:33.359 --> 01:15:41.279 and necessarily, the New York City Fire Department had to move forward because they 910 01:15:41.399 --> 01:15:45.039 still the New York City still needs a fire department, and so I kind 911 01:15:45.079 --> 01:15:54.000 of got stuck in nine to eleven and the mantra of never forget, And 912 01:15:54.119 --> 01:15:59.399 so that's where I've been for the last twenty two years, is speaking the 913 01:15:59.520 --> 01:16:04.239 names of my friends, making sure that those who are responsible for keeping us 914 01:16:04.279 --> 01:16:15.279 safe don't let this shit happen again, and and so I'm so now I'm 915 01:16:15.319 --> 01:16:20.319 still to this day, Tim the nine Living Fire, and that's how I 916 01:16:20.479 --> 01:16:30.439 will go to my brain and I'm I'm humbled and proud that I have a 917 01:16:30.640 --> 01:16:38.680 voice throughout America to be able to talk about the passion, the courage, 918 01:16:38.840 --> 01:16:47.159 the bravery and heroism, the selflessness and the love that was demonstrated that day 919 01:16:47.399 --> 01:16:55.399 by three and forty three American heroes, thirty seven Port Authority Police officer heroes, 920 01:16:55.439 --> 01:17:03.479 at twenty three NYP Heroes, State Court Officer heroes, and the list 921 01:17:03.760 --> 01:17:15.319 goes on. And I will continue to live that mantra. It's my last 922 01:17:15.359 --> 01:17:19.239 friend, Tim. Do you find traveling the country, because I know you 923 01:17:19.319 --> 01:17:24.000 travel the country now, right, do you find that people still are engaged 924 01:17:24.039 --> 01:17:28.720 with it or do you think that, you know, because it's been twenty 925 01:17:28.760 --> 01:17:31.239 two years, a lot of it is. I know, every September eleventh 926 01:17:31.279 --> 01:17:34.760 it's never forget. People come out again. But do you find that for 927 01:17:34.840 --> 01:17:40.199 the most day in and day out, people kind of forget, like you 928 01:17:40.279 --> 01:17:45.640 know, it falls to the side A couple of things there. The groups 929 01:17:45.840 --> 01:17:56.640 I speak to are mostly almost exclusively are our protectors. So it's military, 930 01:17:56.840 --> 01:18:06.199 police, fire intelligence community, that group of uniformed people, so they are 931 01:18:06.279 --> 01:18:14.760 a group that knows more than regular society. Right about nine to eleven. 932 01:18:15.359 --> 01:18:20.600 I just spoke last Tuesday, almost a week ago now out in Los Angeles 933 01:18:20.680 --> 01:18:28.920 to the FBI field office, one thousand FBI employees because they have a they're 934 01:18:29.000 --> 01:18:30.760 having a hard time out there, so I wanted to talk with them about 935 01:18:32.039 --> 01:18:38.039 that, the hard subjects, you know, the darness, suicide, stuff 936 01:18:38.119 --> 01:18:48.520 like that. But I had a thousand FBI employees very engaged in the stories 937 01:18:48.760 --> 01:18:54.680 of the heroes of nine to eleven, yeah, you know, and then 938 01:18:54.920 --> 01:19:00.680 talking with them about my dark years where if I were a different person, 939 01:19:01.800 --> 01:19:09.520 maybe suicide was crossed by path. But I talked that the title of my 940 01:19:09.880 --> 01:19:14.560 speech is truth in History. Then what that means is the whole truth. 941 01:19:15.159 --> 01:19:20.079 You don't just talk about the heroes. You talk about talk about the maiden 942 01:19:20.199 --> 01:19:25.920 suffering of people who had to make the choice to jump out of the floor, 943 01:19:27.479 --> 01:19:32.920 or the people who are trapped in the elevator burning to death, or 944 01:19:33.159 --> 01:19:36.680 also the whole truth means you talk about the people that did and why they 945 01:19:36.760 --> 01:19:44.880 did it. The Islamists that hold this off that murdered nearly three thousand innocent 946 01:19:44.960 --> 01:19:47.640 human beings on that day and who they are and why they did so we 947 01:19:47.760 --> 01:19:51.000 have to be able to talk about all of those things. That's called truth 948 01:19:51.039 --> 01:19:57.760 in history. The second part of it is patience and grief. And patience 949 01:19:57.800 --> 01:20:02.279 and grief. I wasn't being patient for a month or two, patience and 950 01:20:02.399 --> 01:20:15.079 grief beings being patient for five or ten years and being hopeful and positive that 951 01:20:15.279 --> 01:20:19.800 at some point the light will shine in the darkness again. And I am 952 01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:27.920 living proof of that. And it took a long time for me to come 953 01:20:28.039 --> 01:20:33.520 back to where I can look back on my life now and say, thank 954 01:20:33.640 --> 01:20:41.399 God I didn't commit suicide because I have this amazing, tremendous, wonderful life 955 01:20:43.760 --> 01:20:49.079 and I never would have met these amazing people and had these great loves in 956 01:20:49.199 --> 01:20:58.319 my life and being able to, you know, spend twenty more years with 957 01:20:58.479 --> 01:21:02.560 my family and all that. If if I had killed myself, none of 958 01:21:02.600 --> 01:21:05.159 that would happen. It would have happened. So anyhow I go around the 959 01:21:05.199 --> 01:21:12.760 country, I talk about those things I talked about. For example, Chris 960 01:21:12.840 --> 01:21:16.840 Blackwell, who I saw in the North Tower and we kissed on the lips 961 01:21:16.880 --> 01:21:20.920 because that's what we always did, and he said, I love you. 962 01:21:20.920 --> 01:21:25.800 You know. He said, Tommy, this is really bad. And I 963 01:21:25.840 --> 01:21:29.880 said, I know, Chris, do your best to be careful. And 964 01:21:29.960 --> 01:21:30.880 he said I love you, and I said I love you. And then 965 01:21:31.000 --> 01:21:33.960 Chris turned around and then went to the stairwell and he went up right. 966 01:21:35.319 --> 01:21:38.800 He said to me those words, He said to me, this is really 967 01:21:38.880 --> 01:21:48.520 bad. And and after he said that, he made the decision to go 968 01:21:48.640 --> 01:21:53.119 in the stairwell and go up and save the lives of people he didn't know. 969 01:21:53.760 --> 01:21:58.159 Right, he made that choice. He could have turned around and walked 970 01:21:58.199 --> 01:22:01.479 out the door and go home to his children and his wife and his family. 971 01:22:02.319 --> 01:22:11.479 But he didn't do it. Why Well, because he had taken an 972 01:22:11.520 --> 01:22:16.119 oath for fifteen minutes earlier or fifteen years I heard of sorry. And in 973 01:22:16.239 --> 01:22:20.560 that oath it said I'm willing to give my life for people I don't know. 974 01:22:23.680 --> 01:22:28.000 But in that moment, he had to fulfill that oath. Indeed, 975 01:22:28.319 --> 01:22:32.800 in action, he had to make that decision whether he really meant those words 976 01:22:32.880 --> 01:22:36.760 or not. And Chris Blackwell, like all of them, turned around. 977 01:22:36.800 --> 01:22:43.079 He went that stairwell, and he went up to save the lives of people 978 01:22:43.199 --> 01:22:47.800 he didn't know. Because he had taken that oath, and he was fulfilling 979 01:22:47.880 --> 01:22:55.319 that oath in this minute, in this moment. And what does that remind 980 01:22:55.439 --> 01:23:00.680 you of? Right, I've read this in a book somewhere before, about 981 01:23:00.720 --> 01:23:05.000 giving up your life as someone you don't know. It's called the greatest love, 982 01:23:05.159 --> 01:23:11.239 right, and it's in the Bible. And that's what every one of 983 01:23:11.359 --> 01:23:14.880 the three forty three, the thirty seven to twenty three, that eight and 984 01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:20.319 the rest of them. That's what all of them did. That did no 985 01:23:20.479 --> 01:23:25.960 greater love, no greater love. That's exactly right. So I got often 986 01:23:26.000 --> 01:23:30.960 a look because I'm passionate about this. That's important. So you know, 987 01:23:31.199 --> 01:23:40.560 I tell this story about them to the audience, and all right, I 988 01:23:40.640 --> 01:23:42.960 started. Sorry, I started out with the patients and grief stuff, but 989 01:23:44.840 --> 01:23:47.840 I was God left me here to be able to tell these stories about the 990 01:23:47.920 --> 01:23:56.119 heroes of fact and the important lessons that we can learn from them and the 991 01:23:56.239 --> 01:24:04.960 examples they set for us for humanity. And I inspire these audiences who are 992 01:24:05.079 --> 01:24:09.520 our protectors, to make sure they do their job very well, because if 993 01:24:09.560 --> 01:24:15.079 they don't, my niece Taylor and all the other firefighters and police officers and 994 01:24:15.199 --> 01:24:19.520 EMT paramedics in America. Some of them will pay for it if we don't 995 01:24:19.640 --> 01:24:25.800 protect the Americans. You know, we just got I've been reading some breaking 996 01:24:25.920 --> 01:24:30.199 news and a base on an American base in a rack just got bombed tonight. 997 01:24:32.000 --> 01:24:38.880 And these are our folks. We have two Navy seals missing over there. 998 01:24:40.479 --> 01:24:45.640 These are our heroes every day, but are on these uniforms and take 999 01:24:45.720 --> 01:24:54.680 the oath and the young I'm ranting sorry, but the young people. You 1000 01:24:54.760 --> 01:24:59.720 know, I hear from people, adults, kids, these days. It's 1001 01:24:59.800 --> 01:25:01.359 just not the same anymore as it was. Well, you know what, 1002 01:25:01.840 --> 01:25:06.279 that's what people said about us too, That's what they said about us. 1003 01:25:06.760 --> 01:25:13.439 The young people I meet in the fire service and law enforcement in the FBI, 1004 01:25:13.720 --> 01:25:16.319 and the intelligence community in the military, and the seal teams in Delta. 1005 01:25:17.439 --> 01:25:23.239 The people I meet are some of the greatest Americans I've ever met in 1006 01:25:23.359 --> 01:25:30.399 my life. And I am so proud of them, and I'm so hopeful 1007 01:25:30.880 --> 01:25:41.880 for America's future. And again the example is found today in Iraq because it's 1008 01:25:41.920 --> 01:25:45.279 an American base and I don't know the casualties, but we have young people 1009 01:25:45.359 --> 01:25:49.680 over there. We have young American heroes over there. We have two young 1010 01:25:50.000 --> 01:25:56.920 American hero Navy seals who are lost at sea ring who we should pray for. 1011 01:25:57.960 --> 01:26:02.560 These young people are out there protecting America every day, and I'm so 1012 01:26:02.800 --> 01:26:10.319 proud of the new generations are coming after us, and we need to let 1013 01:26:10.399 --> 01:26:13.039 them know that we love them when we support them and we appreciate it. 1014 01:26:13.640 --> 01:26:20.680 Okay, stop, don't stop, don't thank you. Do you feel that 1015 01:26:20.800 --> 01:26:26.399 you're still like you said, you were a product of nine to eleven, 1016 01:26:26.960 --> 01:26:30.319 like you was stuck there? Yeah, with the work that you're doing now, 1017 01:26:30.359 --> 01:26:32.119 do you feel you're still like that? Do you feel like you've moved 1018 01:26:32.159 --> 01:26:36.439 past and you've turned into something else, You've you've become something else? Well, 1019 01:26:36.680 --> 01:26:41.319 I'm still the nine to eleven firemen, right, I don't I shouldn't 1020 01:26:41.319 --> 01:26:45.039 say stuck because it means it's that I don't embrace it. And I do 1021 01:26:45.199 --> 01:26:51.079 embrace it. But I am. I am like a nine eleven fireman, 1022 01:26:51.520 --> 01:26:59.000 and I actually believe that God left me here to have this voice and to 1023 01:26:59.079 --> 01:27:02.000 talk about you know, the Patty Browns and the Terry Hatton's, that Billy 1024 01:27:02.079 --> 01:27:08.760 Burke's and Chris Blackwalls and the mc clinches and the Chief Burns and like all 1025 01:27:08.800 --> 01:27:13.079 these all these people that I saw in the towers, first in the North 1026 01:27:13.159 --> 01:27:16.199 Tower and then in the South Tower, all these heroes. You know. 1027 01:27:16.760 --> 01:27:20.680 After I got out of the South Tower collapse, I'm running up the West 1028 01:27:20.720 --> 01:27:31.159 Side Highway and I see I see Commissioner A. Feehan and and Chief Downey 1029 01:27:31.760 --> 01:27:35.479 on the West Side Highway. They're both my very good friends, right, 1030 01:27:36.079 --> 01:27:42.319 And I wave to them and they wave to me, and they're both yelling 1031 01:27:42.439 --> 01:27:47.479 to me to me be careful, and within ten minutes they'd both be dead 1032 01:27:47.520 --> 01:27:57.119 and I would be alive. You know, God left me here to tell 1033 01:27:57.199 --> 01:28:08.279 these stories to inspire young people, and you know, just to tell the 1034 01:28:08.399 --> 01:28:20.199 truth about what happened. M I feel very blessed to be here. You 1035 01:28:20.279 --> 01:28:24.319 know, we're insist. Now where are we for time? I don't worry 1036 01:28:24.359 --> 01:28:29.520 about it no matter. So, you know, I'll get into some other 1037 01:28:29.640 --> 01:28:33.600 stuff. You know, we haven't talked about the post nine to eleven deaths 1038 01:28:35.199 --> 01:28:41.399 yet, right we The New York City Fire Department surpassed the number three forty 1039 01:28:41.439 --> 01:28:46.600 three that passed year or just just within the last couple of months. So 1040 01:28:46.720 --> 01:28:54.239 we've lost over three hundred and forty three heroes from nine to eleven illness. 1041 01:28:54.439 --> 01:29:00.840 Right, So that means we're somewhere around seven hundred firefighters who were killed by 1042 01:29:00.960 --> 01:29:10.119 these Islamus terraces. And and that's that's the that's the truth, truth in 1043 01:29:10.319 --> 01:29:16.039 history. And you know, the police department, we don't hear so much 1044 01:29:16.039 --> 01:29:23.560 about, but I hear their numbers bigger than the three forty three and the 1045 01:29:23.680 --> 01:29:27.920 construction workers. I don't even know what you know what their numbers are. 1046 01:29:30.279 --> 01:29:39.800 So there's a lot, a lot more than that. So h I've developed 1047 01:29:39.840 --> 01:29:44.960 programs with the nine to eleven Museum, the Professional Program. Every newbm FBI 1048 01:29:45.119 --> 01:29:49.000 employee is required to go through the professional training program at the nine to eleven 1049 01:29:49.119 --> 01:29:58.720 Museum. The Department Homeland Security, Intel and Analysis Group is required to go 1050 01:29:58.840 --> 01:30:02.720 through the program. Not only that, but I talked about oath like I 1051 01:30:02.800 --> 01:30:09.920 did before the importance of oath and uh After I tell that story, they 1052 01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:15.199 take them down into uh A Foundation Hall and they swear them in at the 1053 01:30:15.279 --> 01:30:19.359 nine to eleven Museum into their jobs. They take their oath right there in 1054 01:30:20.000 --> 01:30:25.039 the museum. And those are some programs we've helped to develop. I'm very 1055 01:30:25.079 --> 01:30:29.239 proud of them. I've been going around the country with the FBI to their 1056 01:30:29.279 --> 01:30:33.960 field offices, talking to their workforce about how important their job is and keeping 1057 01:30:34.199 --> 01:30:41.319 us safe, keeping the persp responders of event safe. I talked to the 1058 01:30:42.119 --> 01:30:45.880 you know, to the different military groups, and I talked a lot to 1059 01:30:45.159 --> 01:30:51.760 the intelligence community, because they work in the shadows and uh in some ways 1060 01:30:51.840 --> 01:30:58.520 there are biggest protectors and we have There are a lot of them, a 1061 01:30:58.600 --> 01:31:05.760 lot of young people there who are I don't remember nine eleven now, and 1062 01:31:05.880 --> 01:31:09.880 so I go talk with them about nine to eleven and how important their job 1063 01:31:10.000 --> 01:31:15.199 is to prevent it from having part American soil again. For all of those 1064 01:31:15.359 --> 01:31:21.479 reasons, I feel blessed. I feel like I have a mission, an 1065 01:31:21.479 --> 01:31:28.399 important mission, and I'm so happy that I saw through the darkness back then 1066 01:31:29.319 --> 01:31:32.159 and that I made it through to the other side, even though it took 1067 01:31:32.159 --> 01:31:38.039 a long time. I had the patience, I had the support for my 1068 01:31:38.159 --> 01:31:45.800 family and my friends to make it through, and I have this amazing life. 1069 01:31:46.920 --> 01:31:51.720 We want to thank you, Timms. We don't talk. We don't 1070 01:31:51.840 --> 01:31:58.439 talk, right, right, I guess I'd be saying so there's so many 1071 01:31:58.560 --> 01:32:01.840 things that you say. That a comment to all of us who were on 1072 01:32:02.000 --> 01:32:08.159 the job at nine eleven, loss of our friends, and you try to 1073 01:32:08.199 --> 01:32:11.840 go on and you remember them, maybe not daily, but when you do, 1074 01:32:11.880 --> 01:32:14.279 it's like another way for grief. It doesn't really go away. It 1075 01:32:14.399 --> 01:32:19.640 diminishes, but it's never gotten. So I think that's the thing that keeps 1076 01:32:19.760 --> 01:32:27.319 us focused in the now. He's remembering. Then. Yep, no, 1077 01:32:27.439 --> 01:32:30.479 like you were saying too, I was supposed to work that day. I 1078 01:32:30.560 --> 01:32:33.479 called it the night before because I had a side gig and somebody picked up 1079 01:32:33.520 --> 01:32:38.640 my tour and they wound up dying that day. And for years, tim, 1080 01:32:38.760 --> 01:32:44.560 I was pissed off at God for years, pissed off why why did 1081 01:32:44.600 --> 01:32:46.079 that have to happen that way? And then I remember one day at the 1082 01:32:46.119 --> 01:32:48.119 firehouse on a nine to eleven ceremony, I said, you know what, 1083 01:32:49.520 --> 01:32:55.199 I have four beautiful kids now, a beautiful wife, a family that loves 1084 01:32:55.279 --> 01:32:58.600 me, and friends that love me. And instead of saying why, I 1085 01:32:58.680 --> 01:33:01.680 said, thank you? Yeah, thank you God. I wouldn't have had 1086 01:33:01.720 --> 01:33:06.239 this, you know. So there is another reason I walked around for maybe 1087 01:33:06.359 --> 01:33:12.039 five six seventy years pissed off, yeah, you know, at God. 1088 01:33:12.760 --> 01:33:15.079 And then I don't know what it was that one day I'm like, you 1089 01:33:15.159 --> 01:33:16.439 know what, I wouldn't have my my wife did it. I wouldn't have 1090 01:33:16.479 --> 01:33:20.359 my kids today if it wasn't for that. So when it comes at turning 1091 01:33:20.399 --> 01:33:25.239 point where this like light switch flips on it, you know, and you 1092 01:33:25.319 --> 01:33:29.319 see things a little bit differently. So that's what I was thinking about when 1093 01:33:29.319 --> 01:33:33.399 you were talking, and just thank thank god, cool, thank god you 1094 01:33:33.520 --> 01:33:36.960 stay, thank God you stayed through it. You you you stayed the course 1095 01:33:39.960 --> 01:33:43.560 and uh and you came through to the other side where you found a new 1096 01:33:43.680 --> 01:33:48.359 life and love and you deserve it and your your your mission now, My 1097 01:33:48.520 --> 01:33:53.119 mission now is to speak of our friends. You know what. And we 1098 01:33:53.359 --> 01:33:59.199 I've been talking to say that, I'm talking to this god Michael who and 1099 01:33:59.399 --> 01:34:01.039 the show that we did last time on Patty Brown. We're going to do 1100 01:34:01.079 --> 01:34:05.439 a lot more shows like that because I want people to know about these I 1101 01:34:05.560 --> 01:34:10.640 want to get this stuff down for histories, you know, for generations to 1102 01:34:10.720 --> 01:34:13.279 come. So I want to talk about the guys we lost. I'm going 1103 01:34:13.319 --> 01:34:17.279 to do make it my business to get as much information as I can about 1104 01:34:17.319 --> 01:34:20.960 these guys and get their family members on so we see both sides, not 1105 01:34:21.079 --> 01:34:24.760 only the firemen, but the guy, the father, you know, the 1106 01:34:24.920 --> 01:34:28.119 son, the brother, whoever it is, So that's what we're going to 1107 01:34:28.119 --> 01:34:32.239 be working hard on the next Yeah, Mike Travala, I call it Michael. 1108 01:34:32.439 --> 01:34:34.720 He says Michael, only my mother calls me that when I'm in trouble. 1109 01:34:39.560 --> 01:34:43.439 I will give a shout out to Mike Travala because on his own, 1110 01:34:43.800 --> 01:34:48.520 he has been educating eighth grade history class in Maryland for more than ten years, 1111 01:34:49.840 --> 01:34:55.840 about nine eleven. And he he gives the kids a project, you 1112 01:34:55.920 --> 01:35:00.520 know, the name of a firefighter or police officer, and they study them 1113 01:35:00.960 --> 01:35:04.119 through the semester, and then Mike brings them up to New York and goes 1114 01:35:04.159 --> 01:35:11.479 to the firehouses and they meet the families, and Mike is, I will 1115 01:35:11.520 --> 01:35:18.239 say, an American hero, and is an American hero because he's he's never 1116 01:35:18.319 --> 01:35:24.520 forgetting nine to eleven and how important is to teach our kids. He's every 1117 01:35:24.640 --> 01:35:27.840 doing but he's just not saying tim he's doing it. You know, he's 1118 01:35:27.880 --> 01:35:31.479 doing it. Every age grade class history class in America should be doing what 1119 01:35:31.680 --> 01:35:35.479 Mike Travalle is doing with his class. I was speaking to them on the 1120 01:35:35.520 --> 01:35:38.119 phone. I said to him, you know, I feel like I know 1121 01:35:38.199 --> 01:35:40.640 you for like the last twenty years. And that's the weirdest thing. I'm 1122 01:35:40.920 --> 01:35:43.840 talking to the guy for maybe twenty minutes on the phone. I feel like 1123 01:35:43.880 --> 01:35:46.520 I know you for like twenty years. That kind of guy. He's that 1124 01:35:46.680 --> 01:35:50.359 kind of guy. He's a great guy. So we'll be doing bringing more 1125 01:35:50.399 --> 01:35:55.239 of that content. Man, because good, really good. Let's get back 1126 01:35:55.439 --> 01:35:59.800 your career so we can get to this. Where are we at the tim 1127 01:36:00.560 --> 01:36:05.960 Yeah, so so nine to eleven. So I stay around New York until 1128 01:36:08.000 --> 01:36:13.920 until like July. I take a detail to go work for the Secretary of 1129 01:36:14.000 --> 01:36:19.159 Health and Human Services in Washington because we had well, I needed to get 1130 01:36:19.159 --> 01:36:24.000 out of New York. My brother Chris, you know, had set this 1131 01:36:24.199 --> 01:36:27.079 up kind of without me knowing, to get me out of here for a 1132 01:36:27.119 --> 01:36:32.399 bit, and it was just too many funerals and wakes and too much sadness 1133 01:36:32.439 --> 01:36:40.319 here. So I went to Washington and built helped to build command and control 1134 01:36:40.520 --> 01:36:45.279 into the Department of Health and Human Services as a result of the anthrax attacks 1135 01:36:46.680 --> 01:36:55.760 and miscommunications and misinformation that was happening within their department that actually made it to 1136 01:36:55.840 --> 01:37:00.520 the President's speech and and so we knew we needed to help them. So 1137 01:37:00.600 --> 01:37:04.159 we built a command center in Washington for the Secretary we built one down in 1138 01:37:06.760 --> 01:37:13.359 at CDC, and then we built some mobile assets, so it was a 1139 01:37:13.399 --> 01:37:16.239 whole thing that went on for about a year. I was on some pretty 1140 01:37:16.279 --> 01:37:24.600 cool federal response teams. I learned a lot. I got my first National 1141 01:37:24.680 --> 01:37:33.319 security clearance back then. And then in what was it February twenty third, 1142 01:37:35.760 --> 01:37:44.159 was the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island, and the governor there called Washington 1143 01:37:44.239 --> 01:37:48.239 and said I need help, and so they sent me up and I wound 1144 01:37:48.319 --> 01:37:51.960 up up there with Governor Kachiri for a year and a half, helping him 1145 01:37:53.039 --> 01:38:02.199 with the aftermath of the death of people and the identification of those folks bodies 1146 01:38:02.720 --> 01:38:09.000 and give them back to their families and do all those things in a mass 1147 01:38:09.079 --> 01:38:15.760 casualty incident that unfortunately, I was pretty good at it. And then I 1148 01:38:15.880 --> 01:38:23.800 helped to rebuild their emergency management, their homeland security group. And then in 1149 01:38:23.880 --> 01:38:30.920 two thousand and four, July was my twenty anniversary, and I walked into 1150 01:38:30.960 --> 01:38:40.720 headquarters very quietly and I submitted my retirement because I was done, and I 1151 01:38:40.800 --> 01:38:44.199 didn't know. I knew I was done with that part of my life. 1152 01:38:44.960 --> 01:38:50.039 What I didn't know was the darkness that I was about to face. In 1153 01:38:50.199 --> 01:38:56.640 those years two thousand and four or five into six were my dark years, 1154 01:38:58.479 --> 01:39:02.680 very very lonely, h really missing my friends because I moved back to New 1155 01:39:02.760 --> 01:39:09.119 York. Uh And I didn't have money, I didn't have guidance, I 1156 01:39:09.199 --> 01:39:15.600 didn't have friendships, I didn't have much of anything. And I tell when 1157 01:39:15.640 --> 01:39:19.520 I talk about this darkness, if ever I were going to do harm to 1158 01:39:19.600 --> 01:39:24.039 myself, those would have been the years that that would have happened. And 1159 01:39:25.319 --> 01:39:30.760 I'm grateful that I got through it and that I had patients and grief. 1160 01:39:31.079 --> 01:39:39.680 Ah, and I guess I stayed. I stayed there until kind of the 1161 01:39:39.760 --> 01:39:45.159 nine to eleven families right asked for my help, and that when they did 1162 01:39:45.239 --> 01:39:49.800 that, I had renewed purpose to take care of the nine eleven families, 1163 01:39:49.960 --> 01:39:57.920 and that kind of got me back on track. Marrior Giuliani was running for 1164 01:39:58.039 --> 01:40:03.399 president, so I got there, so that gave me some direction and hope, 1165 01:40:04.399 --> 01:40:12.279 and through those two things, I started coming back to life. But 1166 01:40:12.399 --> 01:40:14.600 it was good. It was good. It was probably a good two years 1167 01:40:14.600 --> 01:40:21.479 of darkness. And uh yeah, and now now I look back and I'm 1168 01:40:21.520 --> 01:40:27.680 so grateful that I held on and and that I didn't you know, I 1169 01:40:27.760 --> 01:40:32.800 didn't end it, Ah, because I have this amazing life. You know. 1170 01:40:32.840 --> 01:40:39.279 I use my friend maybe Seel Jason Redmond as an example. You know, 1171 01:40:39.399 --> 01:40:43.359 I never dreamed in my life that I would actually meet one of my 1172 01:40:43.520 --> 01:40:46.800 heroes. You know, I'd read his books and everything, and that not 1173 01:40:46.840 --> 01:40:53.079 only would I beat him, but we would become very close friends. He 1174 01:40:53.199 --> 01:40:59.239 was texting me today. Uh yeah, I'm so grateful that I held on. 1175 01:41:00.079 --> 01:41:02.680 And I have so many of these people in my life. And I'll 1176 01:41:02.720 --> 01:41:06.239 give credit to Conway, you know, Paul Conway. Give credit to my 1177 01:41:06.319 --> 01:41:12.600 family, my brother Mike, my brother Chris for getting me through it, 1178 01:41:12.720 --> 01:41:17.720 my niece Taylor for making me proud, and uh you know, the list 1179 01:41:17.880 --> 01:41:25.920 goes on. A lot of people came to my side and helped me get 1180 01:41:25.960 --> 01:41:32.960 out of it, and I am. I have this wonderful new life that 1181 01:41:33.079 --> 01:41:40.720 I never in my darkness, I never could have imagined. I never could 1182 01:41:40.760 --> 01:41:45.039 have dreamed that I would have this life. I know, I know the 1183 01:41:45.119 --> 01:41:50.640 people who found Oslon bin mine right, right. We all hear about Seal 1184 01:41:50.680 --> 01:41:55.760 Team six. No, I'm talking about the people who actually found it right 1185 01:41:57.079 --> 01:42:04.439 and these people who never forgotten, never forgot what happened to us for twenty 1186 01:42:04.560 --> 01:42:11.039 years. They kept working on it in the shadows. You know, I 1187 01:42:11.159 --> 01:42:14.399 know the people that took out I'm an al Zaa here a year and a 1188 01:42:14.439 --> 01:42:23.520 half ago, right, those folks are my friends. How That's why there's 1189 01:42:23.600 --> 01:42:27.159 there's so many things happening out there that we don't really realize. There are 1190 01:42:27.199 --> 01:42:33.319 so many people that also lived the mantra and never forget, but they just 1191 01:42:33.399 --> 01:42:39.960 can't talk about it, they can't show it. And you know, those 1192 01:42:40.960 --> 01:42:48.079 those two Davy Seals that are missing tonight, if you ask them or their 1193 01:42:48.119 --> 01:42:53.520 families, you would likely hear a story that they went in because of NYL. 1194 01:42:55.920 --> 01:43:00.920 They might even have an FDNY patch in up in there of the uniform. 1195 01:43:04.279 --> 01:43:08.039 There there are so many wonderful people out there, and I've been blessed 1196 01:43:08.119 --> 01:43:15.439 to meet them and and be able to say thank you on our band, 1197 01:43:15.239 --> 01:43:25.279 on our community's back. So I want to I want to get into some 1198 01:43:25.439 --> 01:43:30.359 other stuff. Is it okay? Yeah? Absolutely? So I want to 1199 01:43:30.399 --> 01:43:35.920 talk about this because it's not known and but and I want to talk about 1200 01:43:35.960 --> 01:43:43.520 it because it's important to talk about And as we talked about before, we 1201 01:43:43.680 --> 01:43:50.720 surpassed the number three and forty three right in post nine to eleven illness debts 1202 01:43:53.800 --> 01:43:59.279 many of our friends, right. So I have been watching my health very 1203 01:43:59.359 --> 01:44:08.279 carefully over the last over ten years, twelve or fifteen years. And I 1204 01:44:08.439 --> 01:44:14.880 found out two weeks ago that I have cancer. I have prostate cancer. 1205 01:44:15.760 --> 01:44:20.720 I bring this up and I will be fine. I bring this up because 1206 01:44:20.920 --> 01:44:27.439 I have been vigilant with my doctor, with my urologist. I have been 1207 01:44:27.560 --> 01:44:34.439 vigilant in watching for cancer in my body because it's happened to so many of 1208 01:44:34.600 --> 01:44:44.279 us. My number, my PSA numbers went up, my prostates enlarged, 1209 01:44:45.680 --> 01:44:49.039 and another number that I don't know went up, and my doctor got concerned, 1210 01:44:49.039 --> 01:44:56.720 and so we did a biopsy a month ago of my prostate and we 1211 01:44:56.800 --> 01:45:01.640 did find cancer inside my crustate. If I had waited till I had some 1212 01:45:01.880 --> 01:45:06.399 pain down there, or I wasn't feeling right or anything, if I had 1213 01:45:06.479 --> 01:45:13.319 waited for that, it would be too late. But the secrets to what's 1214 01:45:13.359 --> 01:45:17.039 going to be my success is that I went to the doctor, I went 1215 01:45:17.079 --> 01:45:21.239 to the urologists. We're doing all the tests, we're being vigilant, and 1216 01:45:21.359 --> 01:45:26.359 we're looking after it. And as soon as he saw that other number go 1217 01:45:26.600 --> 01:45:30.279 up, he sent me for the biopsy, and we found it. We 1218 01:45:30.439 --> 01:45:33.680 found it early, before it even got to the surface of the prostate. 1219 01:45:34.359 --> 01:45:38.800 And you know, I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do about it 1220 01:45:38.880 --> 01:45:41.920 yet, and I have a couple of options. But in the next few 1221 01:45:41.920 --> 01:45:45.640 weeks we'll be taking care of this problem. And I am going to live 1222 01:45:45.840 --> 01:45:49.119 a long, healthy life unless I get hit by a bus. Certainly, 1223 01:45:50.399 --> 01:45:57.239 certainly, it's certainly not going to be this. And I bring this up. 1224 01:45:57.680 --> 01:46:00.159 It's a hard thing to talk about, right, but I bring it 1225 01:46:00.279 --> 01:46:05.680 up because I'm encouraging the men out there and the women. But the men 1226 01:46:05.760 --> 01:46:13.520 with the prostate, get checked, get your numbers done, watch it, 1227 01:46:13.720 --> 01:46:17.159 especially the fireman, especially if you were involved in nine to eleven. Don't 1228 01:46:17.159 --> 01:46:21.840 avoid it. Don't wait until something hurts. Don't avoid that finger. Don't 1229 01:46:24.439 --> 01:46:28.359 all of you. I do. I do the colonoscopy every year. That 1230 01:46:28.640 --> 01:46:35.520 sucks. It sucks. The drug come on, the prep sucks, right, 1231 01:46:35.640 --> 01:46:42.359 but sucks. But I found my cancer early. That's the whole that's 1232 01:46:42.439 --> 01:46:45.600 the whole game. I finished that on the show. Here early detection, 1233 01:46:45.840 --> 01:46:50.399 early detection, And there's plenty of it out there available to you. It's 1234 01:46:50.520 --> 01:46:54.760 outing. You gotta get it. You gotta get it early. You know, 1235 01:46:56.000 --> 01:46:58.640 it's so important. And I thought I thought about whether I wanted to, 1236 01:46:58.800 --> 01:47:01.199 you know, talk about this public, but it's you know, your 1237 01:47:01.239 --> 01:47:06.720 audience is the right audience to hear this this uh this story. And and 1238 01:47:08.279 --> 01:47:11.399 I hope that I I push. I mean, all it takes, really 1239 01:47:11.439 --> 01:47:15.319 in the beginning is getting your getting your blood done every six months, you 1240 01:47:15.399 --> 01:47:16.680 know, get your blood check, check your p S A and your blood. 1241 01:47:17.399 --> 01:47:23.439 And you know you had you had a you know the story of Patti 1242 01:47:23.520 --> 01:47:29.600 Brown on this your last episode and uh after after Patty uh passed away, 1243 01:47:30.239 --> 01:47:33.880 as as you can read in the book What Brothers Do by Michael Everett Brown, 1244 01:47:34.640 --> 01:47:42.079 Patty's blood brother. You know, Patty names in his in his will, 1245 01:47:42.199 --> 01:47:45.079 he names the people who were really his close friends, of which I'm 1246 01:47:45.199 --> 01:47:50.800 one of I'm the one of the people named. And uh, I then 1247 01:47:51.000 --> 01:47:57.680 become close friends with Michael Brown, doctor Michael Brown, like I was close 1248 01:47:57.720 --> 01:48:06.000 friends with Patty Brown. And wouldn't you know it, doctor Mike Brown just 1249 01:48:06.039 --> 01:48:13.199 a couple of years ago passes from frost date cancer. So and he's a 1250 01:48:13.239 --> 01:48:20.279 freaking doctor, right, So I'm saying, you know, I saw Patty 1251 01:48:20.359 --> 01:48:28.600 before he died. I held Mike's hand the day he died. We don't 1252 01:48:28.640 --> 01:48:33.640 need to be doing this, We don't need We know how to fix prost 1253 01:48:33.680 --> 01:48:39.960 day cancer if we find it early, and many other kinds of cancer if 1254 01:48:40.000 --> 01:48:44.760 we find them early. And there's no reason for not going to your doctor 1255 01:48:45.119 --> 01:48:48.159 and getting checked and trying to get it early. Okay again, I'm so 1256 01:48:48.359 --> 01:48:53.960 boxing, but I'm passionate about it, and I am going to beat this. 1257 01:48:55.319 --> 01:48:57.840 I'm going to live a long, healthy life and I am going to 1258 01:48:57.840 --> 01:49:02.760 be a pain and a lot of people's assets long. I hope you do. 1259 01:49:06.039 --> 01:49:09.279 You know what too. I want to say, it's not only the 1260 01:49:09.399 --> 01:49:12.880 cancers, your heart too. You need to go get yourself checked to make 1261 01:49:12.920 --> 01:49:15.279 sure you have no blockages. There's so many things that you can get done. 1262 01:49:15.800 --> 01:49:20.680 So get out there. Rob brown Off. Is something the job itself 1263 01:49:20.760 --> 01:49:25.479 office. I'm sure jobs all across the country offer it. Don't just do 1264 01:49:25.640 --> 01:49:28.199 it, man, it's one day out of your at your life, two 1265 01:49:28.319 --> 01:49:34.920 times a year, you know, just get it done. Responsibility to ourselves 1266 01:49:34.960 --> 01:49:41.000 and our families and care of us. You know, we we we got 1267 01:49:41.119 --> 01:49:44.520 to be here for each other as long as we can. Yeah, well, 1268 01:49:44.560 --> 01:49:48.800 you made three more friends tonight too. I want to be a pain 1269 01:49:48.880 --> 01:49:53.119 of your asses for a long time. I'm okay with that because we're gonna 1270 01:49:53.199 --> 01:49:56.520 keep pushing a lot down. We're gonna keep pushing the same content now, 1271 01:49:56.600 --> 01:49:58.600 Tim, we're going to get these guys names out there. I want to 1272 01:49:58.600 --> 01:50:02.239 do something on Terry Hatton. Uh, we'ren do something on Downy Uh yeah, 1273 01:50:02.560 --> 01:50:06.720 Billy Burke. We're gonna do something on good good Man Billy Burke. 1274 01:50:08.000 --> 01:50:11.479 Yeah. Man, he was I was in proby school. He was might 1275 01:50:11.760 --> 01:50:15.640 in charge down Man, because I live, I live twenty one engine is 1276 01:50:15.680 --> 01:50:18.920 first the first do with my home here, oh is it? Yeah? 1277 01:50:18.960 --> 01:50:21.159 So he was got to the twenty one engine. So I used to see 1278 01:50:21.199 --> 01:50:26.000 him all the time, uh at the firehouse and stuff here. Yeah. 1279 01:50:26.079 --> 01:50:28.720 So now that we got Michael, how do you say his last name against 1280 01:50:28.720 --> 01:50:38.520 shave Shruck's chat? He's a great chat s h s h r A shraw. 1281 01:50:39.880 --> 01:50:42.079 All right, Michael, we're gonna get on this and put on We 1282 01:50:42.159 --> 01:50:45.560 got a lot of good content and we're gonna, you know, normal lip 1283 01:50:45.640 --> 01:50:49.760 service. We're gonna actually keep the memories alive. Yeah. I think it 1284 01:50:49.880 --> 01:50:53.960 might be that time, Tim, Well, before we before we get to 1285 01:50:54.039 --> 01:50:56.520 that. I just did have one more question, and I want to interrupt 1286 01:50:56.560 --> 01:50:58.840 you earlier, Tim when you were talking about it. But as far as 1287 01:50:58.960 --> 01:51:01.680 generations go, one good thing that's come out of this is you see, 1288 01:51:01.720 --> 01:51:04.039 and we were talking about it with Chris Blackwell's son, right, so many 1289 01:51:04.079 --> 01:51:08.720 of these kids that lost their fathers that day are now on the job as 1290 01:51:08.800 --> 01:51:13.199 police officers, on the job as firefighters. Chief gancy sons are chiefs themselves 1291 01:51:13.279 --> 01:51:15.399 now. So when you look at that component, how does that make you 1292 01:51:15.439 --> 01:51:17.720 feel, considering the fact you had the honor of working with so many of 1293 01:51:17.760 --> 01:51:21.319 their fathers. I am so proud of these young folks. I said it 1294 01:51:21.399 --> 01:51:28.920 before. They carry on the tradition. They're not They're not afraid. They 1295 01:51:28.960 --> 01:51:33.239 are they are courageous and brave, and they want to carry on the legacy 1296 01:51:33.880 --> 01:51:41.199 and the name of their heroic fathers. This is why I'm so proud of 1297 01:51:41.279 --> 01:51:46.520 the next generations. I see this through throughout my travels around the country. 1298 01:51:46.600 --> 01:51:51.399 I see this everywhere. I see so many in the military who are the 1299 01:51:51.479 --> 01:51:58.319 children of nine to eleven, you know, or or other fire departments or 1300 01:51:58.319 --> 01:52:01.800 are gold star you know, uh police departments. You know, we are 1301 01:52:02.159 --> 01:52:08.039 families of service. You know, in my family, it's my my niece 1302 01:52:08.479 --> 01:52:14.199 I'm incredibly proud of and and my my nephew to Todd is out in is 1303 01:52:14.279 --> 01:52:24.079 out in California doing aramedic nurse helicopter work. You know, families of service. 1304 01:52:24.239 --> 01:52:29.039 This is who we are. And I hope that these young folks never 1305 01:52:29.159 --> 01:52:34.920 start stop talking about they're the low exparents. Thank you. Well, we're 1306 01:52:34.960 --> 01:52:39.319 not going to stop, that's for sure. Now, I think it's that 1307 01:52:39.479 --> 01:52:42.760 time of the show, right, Mike, are you ready, mister Brown? 1308 01:52:43.439 --> 01:52:46.079 You're ready for a spotlight? I got this, Let's see. I 1309 01:52:46.159 --> 01:52:48.640 think we kind of talked about it, but let's go again. Here we 1310 01:52:48.720 --> 01:52:54.640 go. You're ready, Mike, Let's start for the old school tip of 1311 01:52:54.760 --> 01:53:02.279 the day, day day, and yeah, quite a show. The old 1312 01:53:02.359 --> 01:53:10.560 school tip of the day is to go to your doctor get checked. The 1313 01:53:10.760 --> 01:53:15.840 old school tip of the day is that there's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist 1314 01:53:15.000 --> 01:53:19.399 or a shrink, because just like our physical health, we have to be 1315 01:53:19.520 --> 01:53:26.880 taking care of our mental and emotional help. My friend Ashley, she was 1316 01:53:26.920 --> 01:53:33.079 the tenth therapist I saw and the first one that connected with me. So 1317 01:53:33.680 --> 01:53:36.800 if you don't have the right therapist, if it's not working out, find 1318 01:53:36.880 --> 01:53:42.880 another one and keep going. Stay out of that darkness, stay positive, 1319 01:53:43.840 --> 01:53:48.920 love yourself, be patient in the darkness, and keep looking for the light. 1320 01:53:55.680 --> 01:53:58.279 Tim you stole what I was going to say, because I've been to 1321 01:53:58.399 --> 01:54:00.359 multiple therapists myself, and you may not fine on the first time, the 1322 01:54:00.359 --> 01:54:03.880 second time, the third time, but you will click with somebody eventually. 1323 01:54:04.279 --> 01:54:06.800 Don't go to one person that doesn't work out, like I'm not going to 1324 01:54:06.960 --> 01:54:10.760 that again, you know, And there's nothing wrong with it. You're not 1325 01:54:10.840 --> 01:54:13.720 less of a man if you're going to talk to somebody. This is not 1326 01:54:14.159 --> 01:54:18.359 the nineteen fifties, you know, so great job. Oh you know what, 1327 01:54:18.600 --> 01:54:21.279 you know what? That's brought to us by Mike. Oh, Yes, 1328 01:54:21.359 --> 01:54:27.239 here we go. The First Responder Center for Excellence is a not for 1329 01:54:27.359 --> 01:54:31.920 profit organization dedicated to protecting their lives and livelihoods of first responders. Their education 1330 01:54:32.000 --> 01:54:38.000 and research initiatives aim to bring greater awareness and understanding the challenges to the health, 1331 01:54:38.359 --> 01:54:42.079 safety, and well being of firefighters, EMS personnel, and other first 1332 01:54:42.119 --> 01:54:47.680 responders too. They are an affiliate of the National Fallen Firefighter Foundations, Excellent 1333 01:54:47.760 --> 01:54:53.520 and Tonight's Old School Health and Safety Tip is. Diesel is a known caust 1334 01:54:53.560 --> 01:54:59.680 synergen. Use exhaust capture systems in fire stations to reduce exposure to diesel exhaust. 1335 01:54:59.720 --> 01:55:03.399 Few grab the need and don't be lazy throw it on the rig. 1336 01:55:03.920 --> 01:55:06.399 The old days, you have to try to clean the diesel off the walls, 1337 01:55:06.479 --> 01:55:13.039 right, No more, come on, inspections coming up. It wouldn't 1338 01:55:13.039 --> 01:55:15.600 come off anyway. You couldn't get the diesel. We didn't really care, 1339 01:55:15.840 --> 01:55:20.000 so I didn't think you would baily clean the toilets. Why would you care 1340 01:55:20.039 --> 01:55:26.520 about Tim Dianks for coming on the show man? Maybe you guys. Thank 1341 01:55:26.560 --> 01:55:29.960 you, God, bless you, Thank you, God bless your audiences. 1342 01:55:30.800 --> 01:55:33.840 Keep pumping this out here. God bless America. Many great bless America in 1343 01:55:33.880 --> 01:55:38.199 the history of the world. You got me, roof. You'll be back 1344 01:55:38.279 --> 01:55:43.760 on what night is it? Thursday? I think we have what's his name? 1345 01:55:43.960 --> 01:55:46.399 What we got on Thursday? Van Johnson? I believe, oh Van 1346 01:55:46.520 --> 01:55:55.039 Johnson six? Yeah, I want twenty four, twenty four four. So 1347 01:55:55.159 --> 01:55:58.359 everybody have a good week. We'll see you Thursday night. Until then, 1348 01:55:58.560 --> 01:56:00.600 stay low and go right. Thank you care everybody, God bless you. 1349 01:56:00.640 --> 01:56:03.399 All right, I'll be af Kevin Coober, Ray Celi and Tim Brown on 1350 01:56:03.479 --> 01:56:09.039 Mike Clone. We'll see you next time. Stay salty, my friendsh