Disclaimer. We'd like to know before the start of this interview that the opinions
about to be expressed by the guest of tonight's Getting Salty Experience Podcast are that
of the guest and do not directly or necessarily reflect the views of the host
of the Getting Salty Experience Podcast. You're listening to the Getting Salty Experience Podcast.
Hello, Hello, Doubt Doyle, Double D. I see him in
there, Bro Doyle. He's got double D's girl. You might catch me
perspiring quite a bit down here because my AC is not working and I'm sweating
like Mike Tyson Greek spelling me bro pouring down my back right now? Is
it really? Yeah? So we wore the white shirts so you couldn't tell.
Ye, it could be in a cornfield. Yeah, that's some bad
weather over there. What happened there? Something in Nio right. Uh,
they're getting a lot of storms. Man, bloods or something with the whole
house that was all the way north. Yeah, I wasn't you right?
Hell no, oh, Man, cameras down the corns, you know what
I mean. Yeah, he's putting cameras in the cornfields. Baby, you
do When did you call from Florida? I want to go on the record.
I'm going for the Panthers today. That's your that's your. Yeah.
I think that the oiler girl with the flat is I don't think it's gonna
work. I think the mojo has one off. Who's the oiler girl.
That's the girl who showed the jugs and went viral. I didn't see How
do I? How do I? How do I see that? How could
you not see it? It was everywhere. It's like the same thing with
that. You gotta spin on it girl. The hot two girls that I
did see that that carry on not daring. Wow. You know God should
have hot food on his hand tonight. It's a bro. No, I
ain't showing any ship. You gotta do that thing. I don't have to
hoalk do anything. You want to see my gump head. He got a
gump pair cut today. Check it out. Bro. He's he's like he's
waiting at the bus stop. That's for he is right there looking around for
the life. Is like a box of chocolates. Jesus, thank you.
A A Ron dude from Michigan. I like that, Adam the dude from
Michigan. And he's like, I don't know, I should have that boy
Scout like you have one of your kids, you with a piece of paper.
I know they're at boys cuts. Otherwise that happened down here with sandals
on. I think you throws out here really quick. Bro. On Friday,
I attended a funeral with the Boys and the Scout Troop of a member
of the VFW. BRO. He fought in World War Two at the Okinawa
and Ewo GM. Probably I was like ninety six years old right now.
You look at a guy like that, dude. It was very moving.
The priest was talking about true heroes, and this is what I always get
back to, Bro, not only the people in the service. Those guys
were like, can you imagine a bulls on these guys, Bro? Eighteen
years old? Some of those guys, most of those Yeah yeah yeah.
So that's why I like to say there are heroes like superheroes, and then
there were real heroes, BRO, Like I consider truly the fire fighter community
true heroes, Bro, because they do it. They's selfless, they do
it. We can't see what of the persons in and we're going in to
do with search. We can't see what color, what race, what religion,
what sex. I don't give a ship. You're going to help somebody
irregardless of any of these factors. Bro. So that my step friend is
a true hero. So not to put the gonzo on the same plane as
a guy who fought in fucking okon out. But I'm just saying, you
know, same typ of heroes. What I'm saying, if you see Louis
looking down a lot, he'll be checking out. No, no, I'm
looking at him. You have to believe that heroes exist. That where was
that? We gotta get that. Oh, sometimes you have to believe that
heroes exist. That was the shirt. That was a goot tattoo. Yeah,
we stole it. We got and yeah, is there somebody walking around
in your backyard loop? Yeah right, yeah, I just saw somebody walk
by to you at that same area. Yeah yeah, hell yeah. I
don't know. Would pay a couple of commercials because oh, Mike Milney,
he's coming on the boat trip. You just ls repeat, Hey, you
guys, you have an RSVP, get get your i's up to h bo,
Okay, I get to we got to play called here we go.
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quote at nine oh eight nine one seven seven six nine seven. Dude,
look at hose, he says, Pablo, your lorn guy in the back.
We were yelling at Polo ill Youwis. I'm sorry, mister Lewis,
so sorry. All right, one quickly come on. The fire Wire app
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com. Al remember the pack we made when we're kids, have a bit.
I'm ever in a home or something and I'm pitching myself on my own
name. You're gonna give me the pillow, right correct? Well, the
other the other part of that is I want you at my funeral service to
get a big blown up picture of me looking like Earl Scott. All right,
I want you to blow that picture of my Earl Scott shot. You
gotta no, you gotta take one, all right, God will take it.
When he comes to the boat cruise you come on, he is get
a heck cut first. All right, that's it. Let's bring Mike uh
YouTube roof when you do best? You're ready? Oh yeah, let's go.
All right, coming to the stage, our boy, Mike Roy.
I thought the whole him to tumble horns. What's up, Michael? Sure
you want to do this? You're good? You're sure, I'm good.
Yeah. I can do that right now before he gets before we tarnish your
name. You got time? Yeah, I look at John. Can you
guys mind if we do the anthem tonight in honor of fourth I like it
to look at you. He's just blocked me into his I don't think it's
crazy. Oh he's something, he's something. Here we go, Oh say
can see by the joneser lie, what's so? Proudly we had the Twilight's
last flea me whose broad stripes and bright stars through the pass five or the
red but we watch were so gaans lee streaming he the rock, get Raglan
the bobs, bursting hay gay fruit through the night. That our flag was
STI there, Oh save us that stops spangled bad word for the all the
bread. That's my end. Jay. Let me give a little cheers to
twenty twenty one truck. Tell him and he's back in the chat tonight,
my little sort off buddy. S all right, Mike, welcome to the
show, as we as we always do. I do remember working with you,
and always not like Mike Milner was friendly. You're one of the friendly
guys, always smiling at us, never never muttering under the breath, you
know what I mean. You were a friendly yeah, mistaking it. He
just didn't mutter it. It was he's got a good game face. Was
a squad guy. So right, good point, see that. But let's
go back a little further. Third generation Firefighter correct FDNY, third generation that
is correct, So Grandpa, that was Buck Grandpa. Then segue at the
pops. Grandpa got on the job July first, nineteen thirty seven, and
he stayed there for a few years, I think ten twelve before he went
to eighty nine engine. Where was he first? He didn't say where.
It was first forty seven engine, forty seven engine. I'm sorry, I
thought I said that, okay, forty seven engine. And he was from
throgs Necks, so he was doing the commute, you know, from throgs
neckt in the roads then weren't like they are today, or maybe they were
better than than they are today. No, but he made his way to
eighty nine Engine and retired out of there with twenty two years on the job.
So you remember talking to him about that, You remember him talking about
the job. I used to remember him and my dad talking about it.
It was my job. My father got on in sixty three, I think,
three years after my grandfather retired. So there was a lot of you
know, talking about the job as I was growing up, So I used
to hear a lot. If I'm not mistaken, there was a guy from
eighty nine Engine who went off the backstep and hit his head on the curb
and got killed. Killed. But I think from what I remember, my
grandfather was driving really so yeah, like the guy wasn't holding on or something
and went around the corner. And I haven't verified that. I mean,
I remember hearing the story, but I never went and verified it myself.
But when you talk to anybody with history of the job, more guys died
falling off the rake or believe it, or not lotting the pole, then
you would think, yeah, right, yeah, we had a chief slide
the pole. In the seven and one, guys were washing the walls,
but the poles got soaked. Yeah, press, do you ever do that
when the pole is wet? Oh my god, it's horrible. Man.
He had no idea. Yeah. She added both his legs. That was
it. Wow. Yeah, he was a great chief. Did Did any
grandfather's brothers get on the job too, or you have dad's brothers. My
grandfather's brother became a cop. He ended up working in the four two precinct,
which was not too many blocks away from forty one. I didn't realize
the whole time I was in forty one, or even on the job for
that matter, that he was in the four to two precincts because we used
to drive by it all the time. But that's crazy. And he was
there door and you know, the civil disturbances and everything, and it was
he for the newspaper article he got interviewed in and it was it was pretty
entertaining. Yeah, back in those days it was a little different. And
as my grandfather on the left, my father who got on sixty got a
signed to the ninety six engine, stayed there his whole career through the war
years. Wow, so there was one of us in eight decades from the
thirties still the two thousands, grant, Is your granddad still around? Oh
no, neither one of neither one of my father unfortunately. Yeah. Did
your dad retire seventy seven sets and he didn't get to work with him,
He only came. No, did they see you get mentioned your dad to
get to see you on the job. He did, Yes, Yes,
he got to see me start. I mean when he retired in seventy seven
we end up moving to Florida. So he was just like, all right,
we're out of here. Oh shit, what about your grandfather? Did
your grandfather to get to see you come on? And he had passed already
no, he got to see me get on the job in Florida like three
months later. But he did see that generation, you know, Florida,
Flora. That's where the guys who all wear pink panties out of Florida,
right farm, look at guns. He's not gonna go for it. He
ain't going for it, trying to set the hook. No good, no,
no, I'm no no, no no no, no, I'll pass.
So you go and move to Florida. But did you know you wanted
to be a fireman before he moved to Florida. He didn't have no idea,
No I did. I mean, I mean my father took me once
when he went to get his check, you know, back in the old
days, because we lived in the Bronx. We lived in Polchester and ninety
six Engine was eight minutes away from our apartment, and he took me there
once and it was like, oh my god, the big red trucks and
the poll and this is great. And you know, a kid in the
candy store. So they put me in the rig, you know, blessing
the airhorn and everything. I was like wow, and then everything like can
I go? You get your check? Can I go? So I never
rode with him because it was just I mean, in those days, he
was not big into having somebody ride. That's him on the left. You
know. Do you know how many times I've posted that picture? Aren't our
social media thing like that? Yeah? I mean, that's like one of
the best pictures ever. Great, I mean it's in that the Joel Friedberg
book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we had thirty one and
come hang it on there. Yeah, he got through the bar. Yeah,
it looks like a cigarette in his mouth. He's the smoker, Tip
Berrillos, Tip Brillos, Flenn East, the fly service bro. Yeah right,
and him on the left. This was a cover of a W N
y F. It was like a third or fourth along or something. And
like he had always told me, you know, whenever I got on the
job of Florida, never give up the nozzle. He's the more key's collapsing
and he's still holding on to the sill, holding on to it. And
that's one of those old brass ones that probably weighed like two thousand pounds.
Yeah, I was gonna say we didn't do so good here. He was
walking the walk though he didn't let the novel go bro. No, he
didn't let it go off the talk. I love those pictures man, different
generation, Yeah, you know, like my grandfather. I think I sent
a couple of pictures of my grandfather, like sitting in the rig you know
the Dalnation, you know, the quintessential picture of you know, a fireman
in the front of the rig driving with the dalmation next to him. No,
we didn't. We didn't get any of those. We went through the
ones that we had, so okay. The only thing that was Markola,
his dad. I think we went over that's with Hadhagen, Right, is
that that's my father and myself at the Proby graduation. Yeah. Probably school
looks like and that's my grandfather's first company when he got on the job.
They were at pro They were at the Rock that day. Wow, for
training, Like, how is that possible? Yeah, that's not possible the
Rock that day. That's that's pretty cool man. You know he was there.
Yeah, were about your ghost. Yeah, so you know, yeah
that was good. And then obviously it'll be just while we're still on the
prov stuff. So you can take the school. Oh yeah, this is
your class. Now you mentioned the guys in your class. The most unfunny
funny man John Larkia John absolutely was he. He wasn't funny in Provy school
either, was he. Uh. I didn't really have too many interactions with
him, but I think he was kind of, you know, keeping himself
in check so he didn't get in trouble. Jerry Murphy too, Jerry M.
Murphy. Yeah, I see Jerry right in the middle there, I
see him now, you see you pointed him out. He still has that
half cut. Where is he right straight in the middle, about three four
rows back one two three four rows back right in the middle. Yeah,
it's definitely him doing it. Awry Archer back right, kind of standing there
by himself. I say him, Yeah, where is he on the right?
You said in the back? Hair's messy wrestler. I was just gonna
says, looks like Gonzo. Oh man, you're taking shots now? You
all right? So that's good. I don't want to I don't want to
miss. But let me skipped ahead from Florida. Let's go back to Florida.
Back to Florida when you were were you're rolling heavy back then a little
bit. Did they use that term back then? Yeah, that's nothing heavy
in Florida because it's too hot. Ah, too hot. This was uh,
I think the day I was packing up to leave to cor That's how
I remember you. That's that's how I remember how you looked exactly like that
with hair. Ute you know ute? Ute? Yeah? You where'd you
go? Whed to work in Florida City called Penelas Park. It's between Saint
Petersburg and Clearwater. Uh oh, yellow rags, Yeah, they were going
any fires now, So that was a little disappointing when I got there that
they were yellow. But so what year is this here in Florida? This
is I got the job in nineteen eighty one, eighty one. I graduated
high school June of nineteen eighty, went to the Fire Academy September of eighty
graduated December of eighty got a short gig working as an ambulance driver in the
county for a few months, and then got this job in April of eighty
one. So you were young when you got there, eighteen eighteen eighteen.
This picture it was probably well that that rig wasn't there and when I got
there, so that was probably eighty four maybe I would say probably eighty four.
And the guy standing in front of me is the guy that was standing
next to me in the last picture. That's Luis Goofani, who was like
one of my best friends down there, and he ended up becoming a district
chief. But he was from East Meadow. So after I got on the
job, then we started giving tests to the new people that wanted to get
on the job. And he was taken and he heard my accent and he
goes, you're from New York. I said yeah, I said, I'm
from balk He goes, oh, from East Meadow. And then that was
like it from there, you know. He just he latched on me.
I couldn't get rid of him on your shoe, couldn't get off, Like
gum, we still keeping tod. He comes up, we get together.
So when did you take the New York test? Then I took the New
York test eighty two, the eighty two tests. My first vacation from the
Penole's Park job was in June of eighty two. Came up and all the
guys he used to hang out with in Wilston Park, where we ended up
moving to from park Chester. They got on the volleys. They were volleys
there and when I came up, they were like, you're a Fineman in
Florida. You know, I said, yeah, what are you a volunteer?
I said, no, it's all cities. Everybody gets paid. And
they're like, oh wow, you know New York City's given a test.
Wasn't even thinking about it. Never crossed my mind. There's that thing again,
reough right out of nowhere, out of nowhere. And if I had
come up a week or two later, I would have missed the filing.
So it just hit that's great, And they were like, oh yeah,
the job's giving a test. You should go file. And then a friend
of mine says, hey, listen, a friend of mine works in two
twenty six, have an engine. You can go right with him and you
know, get a feel for it. So it's a lot different when you're
nineteen years old now and you know, just from a five year old,
six year old, seven year old kid going to pick up call this check.
You're on the job now down there, you got a little bit more
understanding. I went with the John Parris and two twenty seven engine to ride
with him, and I did a twenty four with him. I got back
to Williston Park and told my friend I was staying with, I gotta go
file for this test. I gotta go file. Tomorrow's a deadline. I
got to get an application. I gotta go file. So he drove me
in to Tomas Street. I filed for it, and that's when things kind
of went in order. You file in June. The test was in September,
and you know, then the physical came and then you got your card
when you were going to get on, and then the lawsuits happened bound boum
Bow. So that took like five years. You know, it took years
for that whole lawsuit thing to come to fruition. And then we took the
new physical Agility test and it was one hundred. Then the next high score
was ninety five, then a ninety and eighty five that way, and so
I ended up with a ninety seven and a half I think average twenty two
hundred on the list. So it took a few years, but I was
on the job already down there. Friends might like, oh, you know
what, you should take the New York City PD test because you know,
all the time counts. I'm like, I don't really want to be a
cop, and I'm already on the fire department in Florida, and I was
enjoying what I was doing, so I was like, nah, I'm just
gonna stay here until it comes up and we're catching any work that mike at
all. Yeah, we were in middle class city and it had a decent
amount of lower class in it too, So we used to you know,
we used to catch them work trailer fires because we had some trailer parks in
our city. We had a huge response area and we catch them work.
I mean, my first job was in a trailer actually, and then the
rest, you know, house fires and big like Queen Anne types they had
in some of the old Panols park like downtown factory not factories, but more
like warehouses, you know, like big tin buildings that you never really went
on the roof, you know. And basically it took a multiversal and put
it down in front of the big garage door. And you know, boy,
I mean, so we had some good job, a lot of accidents.
I mean, you know, we got highways running through there. The
accidents emergency medical, forget it. I mean it was eighty percent medical.
This was actually I was the acting lieutenant on that engine, and that was
one of my last runs on the job. In Penel's back, I don't
think that guy did too good. No, three d o ways one with
a decapitation. And you see that Scotty sign is like a lumberyard where it's
like a full time hole depot. One of the guys that we worked with
was off duty. He worked on another shift and he worked in there on
the side. He comes running out and tells me, hey, Mike,
that box over there, that's where the woman's head is. I was like,
oh, okay, and right, yeah, four people in the accident,
three got killed. But accidents like crazy cause on the trailers, I
mean, it was just it was ridiculous how many accidents there are. I
mean, the minute of saus Terrain in Florida and Gonzo, you're gonna know
as soon as sus Terrain tones start going off, accidents everywhere, it still
happened. The accidents are still a diamond dozen down here. It's unbelievable,
almost as much as like the EMS runs down there. So we did a
lot of EMS, and when I first got on, you know, it
was kind of slow. The guy who really took me under his wing was
this guy named Dan Jones. He was my lieutenant and he had what they
called like the super crew. Blair Bender was the chauffeur and Joe Bailey Don
Schultz, you know, like two guys that were so into the job,
super strong guys, you know, like you couldn't It was the best chauffeur
on the job. Edge number one, the first guy hired on that department.
And then you know Dan Jones, I think I got hired like nine
years before me or something, and with the paramedic school, became a lieutenant,
you know, super into the training. He was doing the training at
the academy and he's the one that would bring me over there on you know,
why burn days when you could really do that at vacant houses, people
would you know, donate. So that was a lot of fun. But
that was like the great crew. Yeah, like the burn Day, you
know, that's pretty cool. The Gary Light YEP and the Dot Vada helmets.
Yeah. Yeah, they don't have bills anymore. I think they changed
left the Metros are calling the Metros. They still have departments down here,
still, some of them do. Yeah, but a lot of them switched.
A lot of them like buying myself and they were like, all right,
we'll buy them, you know, the New Yorkers. So it was
a lot of those got like that right, only four times bigger. Yeah,
that's my my TRT helmet that they made big. We're gonna bring up
old ship well pummeling him today. Bro, he's pulling a little bit of
a p He's a little bit like this is all good. Big smiles over
here. Bro, I don't want to take away from the guests. That's
all right, fellow Florida guy goes. It goes around, Bro, you
know that goes around. It's like a circle. And that job down there,
I mean, the whole county was really getting progressive in the fire service.
We started the first has Matt team in the county. You know,
the county is like, we need a haz Matt team. So they got
a hold of Dan Jones, who's uh the guy in the white shirt,
second from the left, and a few other chiefs from three other departments,
and they said, we want you guys to form a hazards materials response.
You in it for the county. So we trained with these other departments,
had a county wide system and you know, we became has mess specialists while
we were down there, and it was something that I mean, I was,
you know, wow, doing some has Matt runs down there, and
I just couldn't get enough of doing anything. I didn't want to sit around.
I became a fouman to do something. I think I just threw up
my mouth. You know, you threw up some hazard materials in your mouth.
Whenever I see those those aren't those yellow vests that say has back guy
on it or something. I just want to vomit. I want to stay
listen. I'm not I'm not taking it. I'm just telling you. I
just threw up my mouth. That's all I'm just saying. All right,
not everybody could be one O three running from fire to fire, you know,
man, right rock, you know, not much burns down there,
and they do. They're usually private dwellings that are made to sind a block
and they have a you know, so you get the contents and maybe some
of the roof joys. Everything else is concrete, so you know, they're
pretty you know, straight forward on how to put them out. Go in
the front door and do what you gotta do. But I did have one
job down there where and I rode the backstep down there because they still they
had a couple of rigs that had the jump seats but I was the fifth
guy on the rig. There was only two jump seats. I'm running the
backstep by myself down US nineteen at fifty five sixty miles an hour, you
know, with the white knuckles, and I'm like, all right, this
isn't like, you know, going down a little street with lyon. We
get this job around the block from the firehouse and in the middle of the
night, officers show for one guy in the backstep. That's it. The
rescue that's in there is and you know, the rescue units in Florida or
the paramedic and E. M. T in an ambulance looking rig. So
the two of us respond out of the house around the block and there's a
house going it's blowing out the windows. So I get off the backstep.
I opened the grab the mask, and the actual lieutenant, you know,
grabs the line and starts stretching it to the back. So he goes in
the back door. He gets to the door and I get there and he
hands me the line. He goes, all right, go ahead, okay.
So I get down and I'm going in and he just keeps feeding the
line into me. And I've got to the point where, you know,
I got to the front of the house and start knocking it down. And
when you have a paramedic and an EMT on those rescues, the EMT gears
up, so he gets in the back with his gear gears up while he's
responding over So he came in and started doing a search. Steve Pelow,
his father was in two truck, retired out of the city, came down
there. Steve got on the job and he went in and start doing a
search. So I knocked the clean down. By the time the second engine
got there, you know they would like doing the wash up. Whatever.
Me and Steve come out and later on the cops cleaning up the cops.
So you know, the guy that lit his fire, we caught him down
the block with an axe in his hand. Originally he got in the closet
because he wanted to kill himself in the fire. So if anybody went there
to get him, he had the action was going to get them. It's
like, oh, that sounds right. Are you glad you aren't the guy
in the ambulance making a search? Then yeah, he was gl right.
Absolutely. He got too hot and he puts it out and he ran too
smoky. God, oh, it's a little unnecessary time blobbing them up.
I gotta keep smacking them out, Dick. I think it's that hat off,
bro, It's like, look at look at my hat, look at
his hat. It's like it's like this. Yeah, so you look for
the point. Yeah, that's the good old boys with the point. Hell
yeah. He hosted in your Grandma. And I was so into the job
that when my lieutenant became a chief of operations, he would send me and
a guy from each of the other shifts to go do all these trainings.
So they sent us to do Roco training in nineteen eighty three or four,
I think, and then we came back and taught the rest of the job.
So it was it was a lot of fun. I mean, I'd
asked him to send me every training he could, so, so you already
trained when he came up. Hirst tools, sorry, so you you pretty
well had qualifications when you came up to it made it easy to I found
Ralph Tiso's though. We'll get to that though. Yes, has that specialist.
The FDICS used to go to the fireous expos They used to send us
to other training. It was great. So and I became an active lieutenant
because not many people were interested in it, and was really much doing paperwork
because everybody kind of knew what they were doing. You really didn't have to
supervise anybody. So I did that, but I wanted to learn more,
so he sent me to whatever he could, and I think that just helped
me down the long run, because especially a year later, when I knew
that I wanted to come up here, I wanted to get as much training
as I could. Sure well, I got the call, you're gonna be
in the class, and swearing was like July thirteenth, nineteen eighty and gave
my two weeks notice, got in the car, drove up, got a
place to live, and just started going to the academy. Like you swear,
you off Friday Monday, start the academy, you know, and back
then you had to go to Livingston Street go buy your gear. You know,
before you did that, and you know, before you showed up to
the acaby, you were totally by yourself when you came up here, like
yeah, I mean I still have friends and everything here. And I lived
in a friend's house who I actually grew up with in Parkchester. We both
moved to Williston Park at the same time, eight houses away from one another.
He was the next building for me, and then we moved eight houses
away. And I'm still friends with him today. I've known this guy since
I'm in diapers, and he's got a place in Long Beach. We got
to Long Beach every summer all the time, and he's on Arizona. You
don't come see me. You didn't tell me you were there, see now,
I will no, you know, we know, now we know.
My father rented the house in sixty nine and what wait in west End,
what's the next block past Arizona? Is it Pennsylvania. I don't even remember
about going down there. All young kids are down there. Yeah, yeah,
is that they rented the house for the sum because it was the first
time I think my father had a sum of vacation. So it's like all
going down to Long Beach and we stayed the whole summer there. It was
great. So I love going down there. He's still down there and we
had a great time. But getting back to the job. I stayed at
his house. I almost thought about going back, and you're like his father
was like, you're not going back, You're staying here. You're going to
study, you know, the whole thing. I was like, okay,
why you really thought about going back? Huh? I thought about going back
right away. Yeah. I don't know if it was a homesickness thing.
But down there, I mean downs, I can tell you. I mean
everything is new, everything's beautiful. Everything up here is like three thousand years
old, you know, and it's just not what I was used to because
I've been down there for ten years already. Yeah. Right, so you
used the newness and the cleanliness of everything, and then I was like,
what am I doing here? He put me on the straight and narrow and
that was it. You need it, you know, kicking that's it right
old school. No, you're not going anywhere. Yeah, you know,
study become a boss and I just kept reading. So got on the job.
Had a great time at Proby School. I made a lot of friends
there, and it was seven weeks, not like today. I mean,
I think you know they get sick days at the Rock now school personal leave
days. What don't go through that? We're having fun here little days?
What do they have safe space things too? Like I thought, the feeling
a little hurt, have a room for a safe space. It's in the
burn building. I was heard at work today and they fill out of her
feelings report. You are not that Roofie guy would have walked in hand need
to fill out of hurt feelings reports like the front window. The only guy
went to Roofie's office for hurt feelings report right out the window. I've heard
some stories about some of the new guys that came on we're having I don't
want to go there to one truck, the seven engine. I'm like,
you know, a friend of mine's father was driving one of the commissioners and
I was like, hey, Larry, can you do me a favor?
Can you talk to your father? I want to go to a truck,
but I want to go to Manhattan. I left Florida. I want to
go to the bright lights, the big city. That's where I want to
go. This picture is uh. We got called to man one of the
marine one for a dock fire, so they sent seven engine. I guess
the engine that normally does it was out on a run. They sent us
Greg Joe Greg Grgiso on the left, Joe Bono, a two eighty three
guy in the war years. My Lieutenant Mike Bobino on the right. He
just retired like two years ago with thirty eight years. Yeah, that's awesome,
man, all that all there he was in. He retired out of
the battalion, but he he stayed in that hot He had to be a
volley bro. He's got a hood then he had to be a volley where
you get that hood from Leventown? Ah indo itally, No, he was
a good guy. I always like working with Mike. Great guy. All
the guys down there were great. So we you know, I told my
friend lat was like, yeah, I want to go to a truck,
but I want to go to Manhattan. So he's like, all right,
I'll told my fault to see what happened. I said, listen, I
would love to get twenty six truck because he was in fifty eight engine.
I love to get twenty six, you know, just up there. I
want to be up that way as long as this in Manhattan. So they're
reading out us, you know, Okay, here's your assignment. So we're
all sitting in your auditorium and I'm sitting there. I'm like, I don't
have to listen for a while because they're going to do all the engines first.
And they're like, uh here it is, uh yeah, engine three,
Jim Wee Engine three four, Pete run Foller engined four, al Lets
Engine four, Mike Roy engined seven. And I was good to be answer
me. I said what my name? That wasn't really listening. Yeah,
he just said my name and was like, yeah, so where am I
going? He goes he said seven engine and I'm like, where the hell
is that? So Timmy Westhall also got a sign there, so we talked
to each other afterwards. We didn't really talk much during uh Bro Academy,
all right, but after that it's like, all right, we're going to
the same place. So when you get your assignment, you know, we
drive down there and we put in and you know, Joe Bonoll, the
guy you just saw, was the officer, and I just moved off from
Florida seven weeks. The academy was grueling seven weeks, gruling seven weeks,
especially that one week a peace officer dream. Oh yeah. But I never
told anybody in the academy that I was on the job in Florida. I
was there for six years. I never said a word. I was doing
very well on the written tests, you know, and the only thing that
copy was like the building construction and things like that, because I didn't know
it. I really wasn't used to it. But I studied and I still
did pretty good. But it was new to me. But all the other
fire matic stuff that was just like, you know, like second nature to
me at that point. So the guys at my car pool, Tommy Silowski,
Chris Piazza, and Rob Dolato Piazza Piazza was a correction officer in Nassau,
and the two other guys of city cops. So he had a little
bit, you know, don't worry about it. Don't worry, you know.
And then they were like, I didn't drive my car because I still
had Florida plates and they're like, you better not show up here with out
of state plates, you know, into the parking lot because we're going to
fire you. And you know. So I'm like, I can't try my
car here. So when I finally did, I got my New York plates
because we did the you know, rotation. I did the last the fourth
week and by then I got the plates and they saw a International sticker on
the back of my car and they were like International, what's that? He
goes you put in internationals. It's like, no, I was on the
job in Florida before I could. You were on the job in Florida and
you told us and they're like, oh, we got to put a study
group together. So they never told anybody else in the academy. And I
never told anybody when I reported to seven Engine either. I didn't tell him
nothing. But the first thing I did say to Lieutenant Bono when I got
there was like, he's like, all, are you're going to be in
this group? Let's told you're gonna be in this group. You can do
twenty fours. You'd be opposite each other, so you know, there's only
always one probi working. Not too okay. Oh, by the way,
can I get next week off? Can I do a mutual? And he's
like, look at him. I said, I just moved off from Florida.
My best friend's getting married. I'm in his wedding party, you know,
And he's like, oh, yes, Joys fell out the mutual card.
One of the Dinosaur chiefs comes over and you know when he filed it,
and he's like, this guy just got a proby school's asking for mutual
already. So he explained it to him, and he's like, all right,
all right, you know, but yeah, I need a mutual yeah
off next week. I need the whole week off. But your buddy,
the buddy, your buddy that you went there with, was like this y
yeah right took the pressure right off, right, yes, it did so
and got there never said a word. There was a twenty seven year man
and there already Teddy Penfield, nicest guy to me, twenty seven years.
He's been commuting back and forth in Florida Park straight to a guy, and
he was just like one day, he goes, when you get the chance.
Because once he later found out because I had some friends come up from
Florida who I worked with and wanted to ride and they're like, oh,
how do you do Mike? Oh we were fine himing together in Florida and
the lieutenant Cadasco because he goes, you were fining Florida and I'm like,
oh yeah, he goes, why did you say anything? It's because I
didn't want any you know, oh shit, yeah no, I just like
I just wanted to be treated like, you know, just a new guy
period. I didn't want oh like ya, you're fine, man, oh
you know you wouldn't have to tell you anything. I don't want any of
that. I just want to be treated just like a probe. So once
they found that out and I talked to Teddy, He's like, I've been
here twenty seven years. I had my chance to get out and I blew
it. But I love it here. Now. You know, obviously he's
been there twenty seven years. He goes, Usually they don't anybody out of
here for three years. You got to do three years of Manhattan, especially
Low Manhattan before you get out. So I waited my three years to finally
get four years to get out, and he said, whenever you can do
it. But I'm in seven engine. I'm enjoying it. I'm having a
good time. The guy's a great great house. One truck the first Battalion,
and then you got to do your thirty day detail back in those days
to an opposite company and usually go out of the house. But one truck
was short on manpower, as was like the whole first Division. They said,
no, you just crossing the floor. So I was like, oh,
okay, that was great. Didn't have to move anything. And right
before my thirty day detail was over, in the truck Captain Tom Pilmer comes
over and he goes, uh, you want to stay in the truck because
I want to keep you. And I was like, okay, Cap,
Yeah, I'll sure, I'll stay. I think if a captain's asking you
to stay in his company, Like yeah, no, Cap, I'm going
to go back to Uh right, yeah you're gonna stay if a captain asks
you. You you know you don't want to burn a bridge, right?
So what is that that on Dwayne and read down there Dwayne Street between Church
and Broadway both that fire house. It is a beautiful firehouse. Oh yeah,
that's when it was nineteen o five or seven something like that firehouse beautiful.
So he's staying in one truck and there's something about a class A he
got that. Yeah. We we had a high rise job over on Greenwich
Street. Pilner was gone by that time and Captain Mike Bradley was the captain
and we had a job in this new high rise under construction. Like the
whole outside was all done, the inside was done. Now they're like packing
the stuff with the furniture and get it ready for occupancy. So we get
there and I guess the fire safety directors out at the front curb and we
pull up first and he's like, there's a fire on I'm seventeen to eighteenth
floor of this thirty something story and he goes, there are people trapped up
there. So we get in the service elevator, go up, get out.
A couple floors below. Me and Tommy Incin are the outside team,
so the inside team stays with the captain. They go their way. Me
and Tommy inc And go another way and there's this guy up there. I
guess he's one of the maintenance guys for the building, and he's saying,
the guys are trapped in this mechanical equipment room on this floor, and the
door to the mechanical equipment room is in the floor elevator lobby. There's I
guess, like four elevators there, so you got to go through that elevator
lobby. But that's where they were stacking all the paletts, boxes, furniture,
everything that would getting rid of, and I think there was some kind
of labor dispute going on, so somebody torched it and trapped like four people
in that room. I mean Tommy went with the guy down the hole and
I could see like the heat and smoke coming blowing out of this. So
I walked down the hole, took the left, and I was like,
well, this thing is ripping. There's no like you put your head around
there and like you put your head on it was ripping. So I came
back and the guy told Tommy that they were behind this one wall. So
we started breaching the wall to the mechanical equipment room and where we were breaching
was the plenum return. So it's double five eighth sheet rock on the metals
and you got the duck work there too, right, double five in sheet
rock, double five eights on the other side. So we're going, well,
like we're hitting the six. It's like, is this cement like we
on the core of the building. So the guy said, no, this
is sheer. We getting throw it. So we get a hole big enough
both sides and we start banging off the inside and now we see the air
vent that's taking the return in and Tommy Inkin gets in the hole and now
he's between basically the wall of the mechanical equipment room and the studs and he's
just in there like this. He's getting the halligan in there, trying to
break force open this vent, because we pull the vent out, we can
get them out. So he wasn't really able to the hoping he wasn't big
enough for the halligan to move around. So he gets the halligan in there,
gets like the top, pries it out a little bit. I reach
in, rip the thing down toward me at the hole, and then all
of a sudden, like these heads come out and the gopers. The heat
you could feel behind me, the unbelievable. Oh yeah, it was unbelievable.
They couldn't get out of that, I mean, and all we did
was be able to bring the vent down to the bottom of the hole that
we breached, and they like climbed out and crawled out of that thing to
go, I mean, and the heat coming out behind them, and their
shirts would get like their white shirts were getting ready to light up. It
was hot. And you only got a class E for that. That's what
everybody said. But the chiefs like somebody told you where to go, you
know, you like they're getting class as to put a ladder up. Three
buildings down on a floor above somewhere a fire building, for God's sake,
again, four people reaching the wall, two walls actually getting you know,
but That was the best part about that whole thing was when Rescue one got
there, we already got them out. Uh. The engine got the line
on the fire and got it all knocked down, kept it to you know,
that elevated lobby, and when we got downstairs, Lieutenant Jimmy Ellison Senior
was down there with rescue in the lobby. He was the rescue Lieutenant Tommy
Baker, FDNY Rescue one Legend and a couple other very salty rescue guys were
down there. And I knew Tommy Baker because he lived around the block for
me Williston Park when I was a kid, I buffed around the volley house
and Tommy was always great to us, so he knew me, and he
knew I was on the job because I'd seen him at different jobs, and
he you know, we came down and me and Incoin was standing there and
Ellison comes up and with Tommy Baker. He goes, you guys breached that
wall. That got those guys out of there, and we're like yeah,
and they were both like that was a great fucking job. He goes,
you guys would that was great. It's like, you know, you're getting
kudos from Jimmy Ellison and Tommy Baker. I was a class one right there
to me, Yeah, right exactly. So the Chief's like, all right,
write him up to the captain or whatever. And we got a un
citation out of it, and me and Tommy both got class as out of
it. But you know, and like, oh, you know, sometimes
if there's not enough guys that did one, twos and threes, they go
to the a's so maybe you get something. And I'm just like whatever,
you know, I'm not here to put ribbons on my chest. You know,
I don't mind rescuing people. I actually enjoy it. So whatever whatever
it was that they said the other night, right, they got from from
a tree, So we get paid to do that. That's what he said,
That's what I'm here for. And he was cupping up along literally,
so while I'm in while I'm in one truck, you know, we got
the first tool. You know, we got that stuff near the West Side
Highway over there. You know, we got the Brooklyn Bridge, you know,
so we had the tools. So we got to use it a few
times. And I had so much use of that tool in Floria. The
airbags, you know, cribbing grip poise. I mean, all these different
tools I had use of, and I think I had three years on the
job because I was first grade back then. I went and actually interviewed with
Jack Calderon and Rescue three when they was still up in Manhattan. So we're
like, yo, you got three years on the job. You know they
let you out of the battalion. Now I went and interviewed with him,
and I had told him, yeah, I'm on the job three years,
blah blah. And I said, but I was on the job in Florida,
you know, had all this training, all this other stuff. And
he goes where in Florida, Like I'm telling them all the stuff. He's
like, we're in Florida, And I was like, Panels Park, and
he like paused and he sat back in his chair and he goes, we
sold you a rig. And I'm like, when I got there, there
was an old mac Rearmount aerial sitting there that was one of the TCUs out
that Panel's Park had actually purchased from the city. How he knew that,
Oh remembered that he was the guy he rigs. He knows there's nothing else.
And I was like, as a matter of fact, you're right.
That was brig was City. It was at of service when I got there,
but they bought it and they were actually using it for a while,
so it didn't pass anymore tests. So he's like, uh, okay,
because I want to get you up here. It was like two guys ahead
of me, Timmy Brown. He ended up going there Joe Cunningham. Before
he done on the job. He was in the s U COP so he
had all the training and that it was me, So he took Timmy Brown.
Joe Cunningham got made, and I'm like, I'm next on the list.
Calderone gets made. Oh no, this list goes with him. I'm
but by that time I had gone interview with Tiso. This is like a
year later, you know. A year later, I interview with Tiso and
I told him, you know, I'm on a job on truck blah blah
blah, and he's like okay. He goes, I have another guy.
I think it was Donnie Reagan. He was bringing up I have another guy
who was an EMT bringing him over from Brooklyn, and I said, oh,
you want to know about that, and he's like, what do you
mean. I said, oh, well, I was on the job of
Florida for six years, and you know, I was an EMT down there.
I went to a Roco training, I did all this others, you
know, went down the list and he's just like, oh okay. So
he's sitting back in his chair, listen to me go through my resume or
whatever, and he's like, all right, i's right now on what's your
captain's name? All right, I'm going to get you up here as soon
as I can. So, like two weeks later I was there, and
maybe you should have just led with that immediately machine, maybe the green machine.
You know, I didn't want to, you know, like, hey,
I'm a big buff for you know, like, but I mean it
was a professional occupation in Florida, right, Gunzo professional? Ye we're roll
heavy down here, you know. Again. Now got the forty one and
I worked with some of the best guys. They were doing some big work
there. Man. That was the crack years the Yellow Rig. And I
was like, oh great, I'm back to a yellow rig. I left
Florida for red Ones and now I'm back to, uh, you know,
a yellow rig. So I mean I worked with Tisa got me over there
is John Cinderella Danny Sheridan there on the left, John Buckeye you can barely
make out. And Sammy Marquez, he was one of the senior men over
there and beloved forty one guy. We had a great I'm down there.
We were going to work every tour multiple times. I could probably count in
the five years that I was there, the amount of time you didn't didn't
go to a job on both hands and feet in five years. I mean,
it was just ridiculous. And multiples and multiple jobs in the night and
you're on the rate or you're almost taken up and you can hear the the
dispatch it coal and the chief's squad available. We got another job for them,
you know. So it was the crack user was insane. I was
an outpit of the earth there too. It still is the on pit of
the earth over there too. Man, it's a shithole. Oh, it
is unbelievable. I went over there for one hundred and fiftieth annivers I couldn't
believe it. It was even bigger good hole than it was then. You
know, gunshots you lain't in the racket night couple hours, gunshots every night,
you know. It was just the screaming going on. It was just
ridiculous. It was PAULI sawmon at that time. Paul, Yeah, Gandiello,
all those guys Rooman Gandiello, Ciderella, Murphy McCardell, John Buck Eyed,
Bobby Canabby all right, Kenny mcween, John Hassett. A lot of
these guys got made too, you know, every little ting, Richieing,
every little ting, every little ting. Kevin McCardell, John Ciderella, and
Eddie Walsh on the left. I think there was a Halem picture, but
yeah, I was gad about you guys. You guys used to shoot over
the bridge right right at the hall. Oh my god. It was unbelieve
just we shoot over. I mean at one point forty one was third due.
And when they reopened them in because I went there a year after.
I didn't go there when they first opened up. Because when they were first
opening up, Joe Bono from my lieutenant seven engine the two eighty three guy
had Squad four in his quarters during the war years, and he's like,
hey, you want to go to a squad? And I was like,
what's a squad? Because when I first gone the job, I never know
a squad wasn't never heard of one even though Squad one was in service.
I don't know who they are. So a year later after they kind of
didn't work out. The personalities didn't work out with the guys that came in
and thought they maybe were going to be Rescue six when really they were forty
one, and they kind of clashed with the forty one guys, the original
ones that came back, and they really pissed off the companies around them because
they would show up second do or third do with tools when they were an
end you know, for a second day box and they go with the home
and piss off a lot of guys. So when it finally got the headquarters
that it wasn't working out, these guys, you know, decored, we're
out of here. The original forty one guy stayed and they called Ralph Tisso
and said, listen, we need you to get in there as a captain
straight in his place out get it to where it needs to be. Because
Ralph was a Bronx home guy's whole career, right, so he knew all
the chiefs, he knew all the officers. You know, he was like
a legend. He was a legend himself over there. He was in the
TCU back in Noble to War years, so he knew all these guys.
So he got in there. He started bringing in his own guys. And
a friend of mine from Probary School, Tommy Sailawski, was in sixty one
engine heard about it, went over there and he was there for a couple
of months, and he told me about it. He's like, the fight
through these ridiculous We're going to so much work. And that was the one
thing that I was missing downtown right all to work. I mean, we
had some great work in Chinatown, you know, great work and some morph
buildings, but not like what they were doing uptown. No, no way,
man, not even close. So Mike, I say it all the
time. I say it all the time. I got on in May ninety
three and I didn't know much about the job. So I so listen to
the radio. Guys would go up to the bunks right, and I would
stay up the whole night. I could I know boxes in Harlem because it
would scan right and then you you'd hear Manhattan forn alarm box eighteen sixty two,
fourteen hundred boxes, twelve hundred boxes right. It was just from one
hundred Street up north, and you would just the amount of jobs at that
time, and I got on ninety three. I can't even imagine what it
was like, you know before that obviously, right, it was all night
like. And I remember saying, my guy Bobby Canal, his father was
uh. He ended up going to fifty eight Engine in Harlem, and Uh.
I was very close with to the Mattaprovy school, and we used to
talk all the time, and I'd be like, Bobby, did you go
to another fucking two jobs yesterday? Like did you go to this job?
You know, we used to talk all the time, and those guys,
you know, those guys were more on the projects. But I would hear
twenty eight truck, thirty truck, twenty three truck, like it was like
non stop. And I would hear forty one on your frequency, you know,
like you would just hear that all the time, you know, switching
over from the Bronx. You know, it was just it was great jobs.
Sixteen hundred boxes, right, it was just all at twelve fourteen sixteen,
eighteen hundred boxes. You want to talk about torture having the uh the
twelve buy where you really took it to like four thirty five o'clock in the
morning, having that and having the radio on in Lower Manhattan hearing those jobs.
Oh my god, it was just not stopped. I can't imagine.
It's like, oh, another one, another one, you know, it's
just like this. It was like eating my heart ass. I'm like,
I got to know. It was such a small area, like queens would
have jobs, they would have jobs, but sure, it's such a huge
area. You know, those guys were going to the city. You know,
it was right down the block. I continually to dirty truck would have
three jobs because their area was only eight square blocks or some ridiculous thing.
You know, the population densities, and it was crazy over there with all
types of buildings. You know, the tenements were the best. So getting
over there forty one on your frequency or it's forty one available, another job
for him, you know, going to Like one day, Joe Gandiello had
like gotten hurt and like it was bleeding stuff. Joe, you want me
to drive? Heuse no get in, you know, it was like no,
get in, let's go. He went to show over school before I
did. And that's one of the best jobs on the job, Like a
squad chafeur because hey, you get to do it your free safety. When
you get it to a job too, it's like make sure that this is
done. Make sure these guys are doing what they're supposed to do, you
know, and then you get to drive. Driving's fun. Yeah, driving
the rig is fun, and you know you get first, second, do
work, third due you know, you put your pumping, you know,
doing whatever and getting out of the rig. Second do third do in the
bronx. Oh well, le go, we don't get out of the rig,
sit out, Take it easy, Brooklyn. Everybody's getting out of the
rig. They're running to stretch out. Yeah, it's just a food on
the stove. You know, we wait till we hear you know. It
was a little more relaxed back then Goes forty one headed back to the mainland
to say that a lot. Yes lieutenants there, Mike, when you were
there. The lieutenants were Chris Kane when he was the Capital of Rescue three,
Charlie Schmidt home run little bit. Oh yeah, he just got run
over by a freaking bus and he's already back out right. I mean,
he was messed up, messed up, and he's already back out riding his
bike and Dennis Moran check. Nineteen truck guy didn't study till he had twenty
years on the job. He got on odd job I think in sixty eight,
but he was a cop for a couple of years and nineteen truck through
all the war years, so he as we got older, we could understand
it because you've got guys like me, Cinderella Soman, you know, on
the backstep and like you hear a box coming in. It's like, we
know this is a job. And he hit a dispatch. You're telling the
chief, yeah, you're getting a three two and the rescue because we're getting
multiple calls and we're like, come on, Dennis, let's go. And
he was just screen through the window. We'll go when they call us.
Come on, let's go. We'll go when they call us. And you
know, you could feel the rig jumping up and down from the four of
us in the back going nuts because he's not telling the show for to go.
But it was great. And now you back then, you guys didn't
go on phone, but you only went on the ten seventy five. Oh
no, they would send us on the phone calls. Yeah, but if
they were further off. Maybe they waited a little bit, right, but
it eventually turned into when they started getting phone calls, we started going.
But Cinderella, he got there during the first round when they opened, when
you had like Patty Brown was there as a boss. Clee House. Cleehouse,
Yes, Cleehouse. A few of you know, some legends were in
that place. And I think I even have like a picture of the first
group of guys that went there when it reopened. H. E. J.
Tierney went there. A lot of these guys were chasing fires end up
going there or something. Uh. Then when they bout out, gave us
the opportunity to get in there. And like I said, we had such
a great group of guys, unbelievable guys are studying. Like Buckeye was there
and became assistant chief of department. Danny Sheridan, he's a battalion chief and
the third battalion. Now there's me and Dan. I guess we had the
I didn't realize. See what's dare that far back? He was original seventeen
truck guy Spoky I called them, Yeah, right, who was calling him
that? That was? Whoever? That? His senior man Wasna, what's
that? Tony LaMagna, who's now the senior man in forty one? No
from seventeen truck Sheridan's bocking. We just had on too. What the hell
is the dinner tonight? Bro? He lost lost? Great guy, great
guy. I used to love getting detailed down there when we were in the
fourteenth Battalion, you know, and the houses around there were great. And
then you had the greatest squad hater of all canceled Squad fifty five truck Fireman
became a captain of the squad two fifty two. Oh, I wonder who
you're gonna say? No, who is that that was? I know you're
talking about? No, No, we had him on the show. Oh
tra character, wasn't It wasn't tri Carrico. Oh no, no, not
Rossweiler. No no, no, Steve's the home run. He wouldn't hate
anybody. That guy. No Elson, you're talking about Jimmy Elson? No,
no, no, not Elson. He was the captain of the two
fifty two. Who the heck are we missing? It was Doring? Uh.
Right after russ Weiler got promoted, he took his spot into fifty two.
Who the hell was that? Rooky? I know he's a chief now
isn't he he retired ross Weller retired, But this guy, he retired as
a captain out of Toude fifty two. Yeah, leading up to it,
I can't even remember his rank myself. Oh I touched that right, said,
who the hell is it? One of my guys will text me who
it is? Yeah, that's said, I said, Now, I can't.
I saw that that was gonna be the biggest ballbuster. I could see
that for forty one period. Really, Oh my god, he was the
worst. It's in here, bro, it's in here, Bro. Yeah,
it's in here. Bro. Squad hater captain squad two fifty two.
Isn't that always how it is? Though, Mike? That was always how
it was. I broke Vanderbill's balls. Mandeville was the same. Although dirty
Truck. He never gave up oho oh Nicolelo Nicolo. Yeah, he never.
He never switched over, he never, he never he stuck those guns.
He never appreciated the guys, he never. He never gave in like
all the other guys. Like he would tell his probi's coming in twenty years
later. You don't listen to those guys, they don't, you know,
tru how he loves us. Yeah, no, but dirty truck. He
he loves the Fdmy man, he's just absolutely Our company was gonna take care
of it. We don't need anybody. We could take care of it,
right. But you know what, he walked the walk. He made those
guys, you know, train and do they drilled a lot. Those guys
were great companies, you know, and like I said, the floor duty
was insane. Yeah, a lot grey companies are running in with over there.
Man. We had all of the Bronx except the two seven, the
two to zero and the one to five. And at that time nothing was
going on. Nothing. So we had a job up in like University Avenue
area. It was a multiple. We're on our way up there. I
think we took up from another job. Dennis Moran Check's the boss. We
pull up and then one of the chiefs is like, forty one. We
got our tools walking up the block. Forty one help whatever engine stretch this
line into, you know, the A wing of this h type. So
we stretched the line in and we're like, man, I hope it'll get
stuck on this line, you know, like this is a ripping job.
We want to get up there and do some fun work. We get to
the lobby, They're like, all right, you could drop it. So
I don't remember who was the outside team with me, but we go into
the B wing, get up to the roof. I get up there and
I walk out. And my habit of every time I got on a roof
was get to the throat. I always had to go to the throat and
look and see what's going on. I get to the throat, I see
it chief and the B wing roof with his aid like looking across the throat,
and there's a guy from ninety two Engine hanging out the A wing window
in the throat area. The flames thirty feet blowing out above is you know,
he's on the top floor thirty feet blowing out. There's like five trench
cuts cutting this roof already. And I get to that. I get to
the throat and I look over and he's screaming, I'm out of air,
I'm out at air. I'm trapped. So I saw Ray Meisenheimer from Rescue
three on the roof. I grabbed him and said, Ray, we got
a rope rescue, let's go. Because I saw like five bags of ropes,
I brought the saw up. I see five bags of ropes slaying on
the roof. I just grab one of them, grabbed him and said let's
go. And I never let go of him because that happened to me once
before when I let over guy and he kind of disappeared and then came back
with like what. So I grabbed Ray. We went over one trench cut,
went over second trench cut, and as we're walking over to get ready
to drop the bag, Ray goes, you want to lower me? And
if you know Ray Meisenheim, dude, he was the size of a volkswagon.
It's like, yeah, right now me Like, you know, I
got the rope, you'll lower me. So he put the ladder belt around
him, he got the bag. I'm straddling. I'm going over. And
then the reason I always say to grab somebody is because if you're telling something's
going on, they want to go look for themselves. M it's a delay
in getting to what you gotta do, and you're losing a continuity with somebody
you need to do something with. That's why I never let go of him.
Then I learned that from the first time that happened to me. So
I grabbed him. We got over there, I get over the roof,
and then I see an officer and like three or four guys at the throat
on the roof from some truck, and I'm just like, they see him
laying on the ground, flames of blowing out, got no more than ten
feet behind him, thirty feet in the air. I mean, this is
like one of the biggest holes I've ever seen cutting a roof. And they
were already back in the back of the A wing cutting another trench. So
it's like five trenches on this roof. And I'm looking at these guys that
I'm straddling going over and I'm like, come on, I get on him.
So they come running over and jump on Ray and I start going down
and just I get to the window, the chief is like screaming over.
We got him out because he actually talked the guy from ninety two along the
A wing wall to the front window where the fire escape was, like he
didn't want to leave that window. We actually talked him to get out on
the fire escape. So at that point they had to you know, haul
me back up, and as soon as we did, we dropped the rope
and got out of there, because I mean that roof was you know,
minutes from collapsing suspect. Yeah, with five trench cuts in it. Yeah,
right, they had them to control. Yeah, yeah, that's what
you go with five trench cuts. But I mean there was such good work
over there. I mean everywhere. Forty four truck, thirty truck, nineteen
truck, seventy two truck, forty eight truck. I mean, it was
just insane. It was. That's what I relate to, Like when my
father was on the job during the war years, they had their war years.
This was like Bronx is burning two point zero because it did really come
down a lot when you got into like the early eighties, mid eighties,
it calmed down a lot, but then when crap came, it went right
back up. And listening to what my father used to say and guys that
worked with him or guys in the war years, this was the closest that
anybody could ever get to the war years again without being in the war years,
because I don't think you'll ever see that ever happen again. The amount
of work that was being done in those areas like Harlem, right, the
South Bronx Bedstar. Now the property is worth three million dollars, so it's
not gonna learn, you know what I mean. It's yea, the things
I remember. I work in details of forty one, going to work and
going to das all the time, all the time. It's a crappy neighborhood.
I mean, it's sad to say, you know, because there were
a lot of great people around there, and there's the people that have been
there fifty years. They were all O Dan though too. I wanted to
say, uh, oh, those O d all the time you go to
those Oh we had a lot of you know, d O WA's over there
to they're still doing that. I talked to my friend, he's in forty
one out they're still still doing the same. I tell you, he'll call
me up. He's done on the phone with me two seconds and the b
boop goes off. He's like, we got fucking MS or something, you
know. Like I used to have my brother come up and ride with me.
My brother in law who was a captain in Tampa. He would come
and ride with us, and they bring a video camera and they'd sit in
the front and they would video going out to the jobs in Halem or in
the Bronx, and there were jobs they're like, oh, look at this
one, you know, look at this one. Then down by eighty three
engine fires blowing out the rear. My brother in law is like climbing fences
and the cops like what are you doing? He goes, oh, with
the fire upontment for forty one, all right, go ahead. It was
just it was a lot of work. It was it was great. It's
like, you know what question I gotta ask you in why did you leave?
I'd always wanted to be in a rescue ah. And when the Olympics
came, I was still in forty one in ninety six, in the summer
in ninety six, and I went down with the Fever team because they had
a stage there for the Olympics. So we get there on that Friday morning
and there's the black Hole helicopter in the background that they took us for a
ride in, because that's what they were going to take us down to Atlanta,
because we were on the outskirts of Atlanta at some campground and they were
going to take us, you know, via choppers. So we get there
that day the crew were we leaving me and Freddie Lafermina he was a lieutenant
then he was a lieutenant in four at that time, sign up there right
FLTF two in New York Hip one. Yes that that we relieved said,
listen, they're gonna give you like a drill in the middle of the night
to see how fast you guys can get ready. Won't be the first night
of the second and probably a couple of nights in you know, middle of
the night, they gonna see how long it takes you. We just got
there a long day, you know. We finally hit the rack in these
tents in Atlanta in the summer. So it was a few hours later we
get banging on the tent door down. He comes in, throws on the
lights and said there was a bombing down at the Olympic Park. Everybody get
ready, and we're like, all right, what is this guy kidding me?
It's the first night. They said they weren't gonna do it the first
night. So I get up, I go to the head and I'm just
like whatever, And all of a sudden, I hear the helicopters coming in,
and I'm like, I don't think that. Have the helicopters come in?
So we go to the media tent and the TV's are on and they're
showing the footage of the bombing that happened down there. So that Richie Jewel
guy that they figured was the guy they did it. Oh well, I
felt so bad for the guy when I watched a movie even more so,
I'm like, oh shit, they're not kids getting all ready. And the
first team that was getting ready to go out, they were all out on
the fields getting ready to go on the helicopters, and the second team and
you know, we just got there. So we were really like, you
know, in the bullpen for this, but they wanted us ready anyway because
we didn't know what happened. And then during that time, you know,
you work with all these guys some rescues squad won because you guys weren't in
service at that point yet. And Richie Yula comes up to me and goes,
uh, you have a think about going to a rescue? I said,
as a matter of fact, I have. He goes, oh,
okay. The next day, Jack Hawkman comes up to me and he goes,
you got a minute? And I was like, sure, Cap,
what do you need? So I was like, uh, what's up?
Cap? It was, uh, I would you like to come to rescue
for I was like, oh, okay, I'd love to come to the
rescue before cap. You know, he goes, I've been watching you while
you're here, and uh, I like what you're doing. So when we
get back, I'll do the paperwork and we'll get you over there. So
great again, a captain's asking you to go, you say, oh,
no, Cap, thanks anyway, captain of a rescue company. You know,
there's Captain Jack right there, God rest his soul. One of the
most great guy. He was, bro what the best mahoney? Right is
that? Who is that? Mahoney? Mahoney? More in the back the
sage, the sage, love the Sage. I've been trying to get him
on. I've been trying to get Richie on. Oh I'd love to see
him on there. He's probably got some great one eleven stuff. Yeah,
but he asked me to come over, and I went over there just as
they were moving into two sixty two's quarters because one thirty six and two eighty
seven we're moving into our quarters with two ninety two, because they were doing
their floor. So everybody was like, listen this to a storia. I
mean, why not just put us on rollsvelt the island for that matter,
we are we ever going to get to in the borough now? So I
mean letters were being written to try to get the chiefs to put us somewhere
else, and it just didn't happen. And all you hear this is way
staying Mike. I was at once seventeen at that time. Do you know
how many jobs Rescue Fall went to that's first yew that they took. I
don't know how many first two jobs they took from me. In fact,
I was maybe just thinking it right now, not to cut you off,
but I remember Richie Yula had a job that I think you guys made like
three grabs and in one of the buildings. It seemed like every taught that
as soon as they got there, there was jobs all around. Two sixty
two was first due to everything. It was absolutely that was the busiest that
battalion had been in years. Bro. The guys at two sixty two were
like, what did you guys bring it with you? And they were seenior
guys there to sixty two. Yeah, well he was just like what's going
on here? So we had a great time with those guys. They they
thought like, oh, rescues coming, you know, this is gonna be
Nah, I knew it. I knew it. Yeah, you know these
guys, you know, they get the higher. Then we got there.
They're like listen, you know we're gonna take the watches. And we're like
no, no, no, no, we're here for a year. We
got the watch every other month we do. You know, we're not you
know, no special favors or whatever. We got it so that they went
before as a step up company like that. You know, they the jet
him in company without a doubt. So which Foley rest his soul? Mike
Milner, John Eddie, Johnny Gaines, Johnny Gaines. Uh cur and Jimmy
Jimmy a motto Eddie Curley. Uh no, Eddie Curley is not there.
Jimmy motto is a funny guy man. Yeah he was. He was good.
It's called him blinky. Yeah. And uh, I guess that's Eddie
Morrison in the background with me over there. But yeah, that's Eddie Morrison.
He ended up still working, right, he's still at the tax No,
No he retired. Oh I get him. I'm gonna get Oh.
He would be a great. I gotta write the absolutely right down. Don't
forget guy the best he had to just get out there because she you within
the last year a year and a half. I think, yeah, all
right, I'll get him. He was great guy, love working on so
you know, it was like you said in that battalion. We we made
three grabs. It was around Christmas time. We got to run in the
middle of the night for it was in a tenement falling along fire in the
first floor. So we pull up and you can see the smoke blowing out
and the flame coming out of the window. It was the first floor on
the right hand side. I had the can so forcing the door. I
can't remember who it was with, but Freddie Laflamina was the boss. We
get in the apartment, the apartment's bank down and we get reports of somebody
hanging out the window on the four side. So Dan o uh, he
was working. Dan Hagelin rest his soul. I say that way too much,
yeah, because it's just unfortunate that you have to say that that much.
Now, he was the chauffeur. So he took the Harris tool,
the five foot halligan, the five foot halligan, and he went around because
once he heard on the radio, he ran around over there. So we
go in and Freddie's like Mike knocked down as much as you can with the
can, and Freddie and whoever the irons man were went to the bedroom where
the woman and the kid were trapped because he had iron bars on the windows.
So just as Freddie and whoever it was got in there, Dano forced
the buy in the balls off the window with the halligan and grabbed the people
out so knocked down most of it. Two and sixty two came in with
the with the line, knocked down the rest of the place, and then
nobody else was in there come out. The chief is like, uh,
Freddy, I think you guys should write yourself up for that. I remember
that. And Freddy's just like, Natchie, if you know when I got
to write up to that, you know, which was didn't have to didn't
need to be done, which was good. And Freddie did the right thing,
you know, like we're stepping on one seventeen, we're stepping on one
six sixteen was right there. I mean they were right there. Yes,
we're stepping on them a lot. So he's like, nah, no,
we don't want to do that. I worked at once Estein when you guys
were there, man, there was a lot of animosity. Yeah, I
tell the story all the time. I only had one year on or something
like that. And I was standing it and They'd drawing back and forth at
each other and I'm standing in there. There was a basement's there, Milne
is there. He just looks at me and he goes, hey, Mike
Milman, nice to meet you. I'm like, wow, that's cool because
these guys are just drawing back and all recue and take in front of the
fuck ability. Wait, quickly had to be there too then, right Quickie
was there? Right? No, he was gone by that. He was
gone a ready, Yeah, yeah, he was ready. I got there.
Yeah, Larry Gray was a boss. That's me, Liam Flaherty and
Chuck Downey who's on the line pulling up the the DA who went between two
buildings. I remember that too, that was over that way, Yes,
I remember that. Yep. That was always was p d there at all
when you were there? He had already passed right now, Nola, Yeah,
oh no. I worked with Pete in forty one. I was working
in forty one for a couple of years. Then he went to seventeen truck
because he interviewed with Corchoran and Corcoran said, listen, Pete, I'd love
to have you, but you got to have some truck time. So he
went to seventeen truck. Who was Pete was a boxer, right, and
I think the captain of seventeen truck was like the boxing coach for the department.
So he was like a shoe in right there. And then I think
he did a year or so or two there, and then he went to
four and unfortunately he remembered that job too. Yeah, another horrible story.
Yeah, I was working with Cochran. He was a nice guy. It
wasn't email like the best, the best. We were out. Everybody's face
lights up when when his name. Absolutely, you couldn't meet a nicer man
or a gentleman. We had a job in a story. We we were
out on the road already. We got uh we got on the phone long
for a fire in a p D or a rove some world frame Wolf of
Steinway, one of those side streets or something. All the houses I think
were connected and we were already out, so we were very close. So
Ralph Williams was driving the rig. He pulls onto the side street and we
were out. So we weren't really dressed, so we heard it come in.
We saw getting dressed. But the captain's in the front of the rig
and he's not dressed. So I get out of the rig. I'm ready
to go, and I look back to see, you know, where he's
going. He looks at me and he goes, this can be the way
like that he had. I get there flameous, you know, if I
was blowing out the windows, I had the audions. So I go up
there and the officer was up there with the guys on the landing getting ready
to go into the apartment. The door was already open, so I passed
them. I go in and I find the fire. I do a quick
little looking around. On my way out. I grabbed the nozzle man my
learning from being in forty one. Grabbed the nozzle man because the officers dicking
around with his mask or something on the landing, so I grabbed it.
Was it might have been too were a wedding, it might have been too
sixty three engine, could have been a covering. WHOA, I don't know
who it was. Grab the nozzleman by his coat. Let's come on,
let's go. Drag him right in, get him to the spot and the
back of Man's with him to go. Doorman's at the door feeding it in
and I was like, what are you waiting for? He's like was the
officer. I don't think it really? Mad is right now, he's not
here, he's missing out. Just open it up. So there was a
couple of rooms going in there and knocked it all down. Captain Jack Cobs
walking up. He looks around and he goes, okay, you got this.
He turns around and walks out. It's just he He never said a
bad word about anybody, Captain Jack. He was just that way, you
know, He's like, Okay, you got it all right. I used
to see him in his favorite place all the time, the Grandstand grand Stand,
alutely going there because I had an ATM in that place. So I
go in there to put money in the ATM. keV sit down, let's
talk some fires. Had a seat. Did he say that to you?
I? Yeah, that he was what a gentleman like he knew I was
in the squad, but just love to just chat. Did How did he
pass away? Just that's not too long. He had cancer, brain cancer.
Yeah, so he was a fifty guy and nineteen guy during the war
years. Oh my god. Right, yeah, you know, and uh
he was a lieutenant in twenty six truck after he got made. Did you
imagine. No, that's why the guy was walking up there the way when
you were running up there. He was walking up there saying all right,
well yeah, yeah, all right, I'll beat you back at the rig.
Yeah. Yeah. He was just he took everything with a grain of
salt, you know. He wasn't killing anything. And he was great.
He was. I mean, it was like Splaine in forty one was an
Elaine too. I forgot about Lane was up there. After Tisa got rescue
three, Blaine got the spot there and he was a home run, I
mean, absolute home run. Tisa was great. He got the whole company
straightened out, and then when Calderone got made, he went up there.
So I had told the Bralph, I said, listen, you might find
a file from Calderon up there with my name in it in case he left
it behind. But that was before I even knew about forty one. No,
no, I don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. So
it was this one other job I want to tell you about in Queen's One
was first two. It was a Queen Anne. And this thing was gone
out of the back. But this thing was ripped first floor, second floor.
Yeah, was even at this job because when I was telling him,
isn't that Coops's best friend? It is? It is? Yeah, you
guys are like this, Well, he loved my brother, So I told
you. I told you that sty my brother had had a heart attack.
So and pulling steelings are Richie. Guy never said a fucking word to me.
Ever, he says, how's your brother, Dylan. I'm like,
he's gonna be all right, all right, now go fuck yourself, all
right, he's the best. He's grips. We get this job in the
Queen Ann one thirty eighth first too, was it? Who's with the one
to eighty nine? To eighty nine? The bucket breaks a hydraulic line as
it's being raised up to the Queen Anne. We're walking under. We're getting
like missed, and we're tasting this like fruity stuff on our and what was
going on? So we Harry Ford was working. God, I love that
guy. He's working. I had the can of the onions. I don't
remember which, but the guys were doing a good job. The guys were
making the push on the first floor. The next line was on the second
floor going up, and Harry's right behind him. You know, I made
sure the first line is doing their thing, and then I come back to
the stairs. Big four you in this place. I mean you could have
put like four companies in. There was huge happening. The company's going up
the stairs. And Harry's a cheerleader. Harry was the best cheerleader for engine
companies. You got a guy, You're doing a great job. Just a
little bit more, keep going, guys, you know, like he kept
positive, you know, attributes going to these that's a good, good hit,
good hit, keep going. And then next thing, you know,
a guy from I guess it was two eighty and arms or maybe the second
duo engine. I don't know. This is before I think the two two
engine to think, you know, the first up the first whoever it was,
the nozzle then goes off. My bell's going off. I gotta go,
So they move up on the line. Then he comes out next to
you know, the office. You know, like Harry's up there behind the
officer on the line and both theirs start going off and I'm right behind Harry
and he's like Mikey, you got it. So I'm on the nozzle by
myself at the top of his Queen Anne and he here on the radio.
Mike Maya's father was the chief of this job. I guess he was maybe
the staff chief for the night. And he's like, all right, everybody,
I want everybody out, and everybody out. I'm like, everybody out.
I'm like, we got two rooms up here. Come on. So
I was like, and the my mask on, I'm yelling down because you
can see big open balcony looking down. Because he knew me from the first
division. I mean, he was a great guy. Mike Maya's father was
a home runner. Mike Mayas was the home run. I love working with
him and rescue for I'm we all got chief. We just got two rooms
here. Give me an engine company and we can knock this thing down.
So he's like looking. He comes up to the top of the stairs,
comes up there with me, looks around. He goes, all right,
I'll get you an engine. So he goes downstairs, grabs an engine,
sends him up there and I'm like hitting one of the rooms. They come
up and I'm like, all right, you take this, and I'm gonna
start searching the other room, so they end up knocking it down, knocking
it down. We come out and he's like, you know, the chief's
looking at me like good call, you know, because only so is the
outside like it's blowing out the windows. Like creative but great people on this
job. You know, there's other chiefs that you just like. We had
a job where Mike McCauley from one thirty six, who was in school that
day in nine to eleven, got killed. I read he details to us
all the time, and he must have been in my groups because I work
with him a lot whenever he took a detail to us, So we became
pretty friendly. And we had a job at this church over in the one
fifty four area because we took the aerial of one fifty four to get to
the roof, so me and him at the outside. I were up on
the roof and then I guess the fourteenth division is like screaming like everybody off
the roof, and the ladder kind of moved and it wasn't in the same
position that we were got off and kind of to jump off it a little
bit, and you know, he's screaming at us up on the roof.
So Harry Harry Ford's working. Hickey's the captain, So me and Mike are
up on the roof and he's like screaming, and I'm like, and I
was looking. I'm just like, I hate people scream on a radio.
I was gonna say I probably was at that job, but then I'm like
that that it's a lot of jobs where that could be happening, screaming.
I was at that job with Billy Quick. Yeah, he was screaming.
I was at I was at that job. Off the roof. He's screaming.
And finally I just like turn away from because we're kind of toward the
front of the building and they can see us. We just wait for the
aerial to come over to us. I remember that was that job, coach.
It was a it was like a two hundred foot long church, and
like you could have just went like the back of the building if anything really
bad happened. So I kind of turned my body away and I'm on the
radiar, like, well, we can't fly off the roof. Hickey wasn't
happy with that. When I got off the roof, he was going he
was going nuts with for Billy Quick Quick say, we got two hundred feet
behind us. Well, right, I remember that he was going nuts.
We had Mohica from Rescue one was the lieutenant that day oh eight at that
job. Yeah he was. He was working. Uh it's all the time
or something in two eighty eighth. Yeah, Because then we got back to
the faials and uh, Hickey calmed down a little bit, and I told
him, you know, because I wasn't gonna you know, debate him in
the street or whatever. I just you know, he's yelling at Ian McCauley.
She tells you to get off the roof. And I was like,
okay, you know, we just stood there back to the firehouse. He
calmed down a little bit. I think maybe Harry on the way back calmed
them down a little bit. And uh, he gets back and I said,
cat, we had like two hundred feet of roof behind us. If
anything, you know, we were right, we had plenty of places to
go. So and then Harry was just like, if we can't fly off
the building because Adam is the only one that was me who said it,
But I mean it's like the best, Yeah, Harry and his HARRYSMS.
I mean he came out with winners man. He was great. And then
I got made, uh call Captain Jack because he was battalion chief by then
called him and I said, when they wanted to CD thirties or thirty ones,
I don't remember what it was, And I called him up. I
said, I'd really like to go to the thirteenth division if I can.
So he goes, all right, I'll see what I can do. So
when they told us when we got our assignments, I got the thirteenth Division
and the guy from one thirty six I got made with two Richie I can't
remember Kirshner, Rich Kirshner. Maybe I don't know. We got made together.
We both got the thirteenth and I there was another guy from Rescue one
in our class and he got the fifteenth. And they're like, holl the
did you guys get these? You know these divisions? So I got assigned
to the four to seven and I did some time in the big House for
a while. Billy Quick was there, Glenn Harris was there. Glen Harris
was there when it was my lieutenant in Rescue four when I got there,
Wow, when he was there. Larry Gray was there, Freddy was there,
and Corkran was there and Larry Gray, greatest guy. I mean,
we had you guys were probably there were there. No, you might not
have been there. You might have been there were you went one sixteen for
long? No, okay, we had a job over a woodside area somewhere
over that way. We got there. It might have been one sixteen or
one fifteen. Was pulling this all the end of the apartment, like down
the end of the hole. They pulled her out, and me and Larry
Gray, I had the audience. Me and Larry Gray were right there when
they pulled her out. They had the line in there, and then he's
like, all right, check this door. So I put the helligan in
the door and popped it. And the big thick black smoke that came out
of the door jam when they opened the door, and like you know,
but the chain was on the door, and you know what the chain on
the door means somebody was inside. So when I popped the door and all
a thick black smoke comps like puffing out, me and Larry Gray look at
each other and our eyes kind of like lit up, like we both saw
the chain. It was like uh oh nasson dang through the door and just
in just as I got to the the window of the bed, the door
of the bedroom opened the door. Larry Gray was searching. He got the
other bedroom. I was doing the living room. Got to the door,
opened the door. People going out the window in the buffet. They got
the bucket up to the window, got the pace there. Yeah, no,
it all worked out great. But if the bucket wasn't there, you
know, there was two ten forty five sitting there waiting fours but there was
you know, no, no, never caught for noe. Hey, what's
that over there? Oh? Watch the door. Yeah yeah, but we
gotta push on a little foil up so you get promoted. Vision thirteen the
first job in the one fifty five Viper's Nest right. Yes. One of
the guys I worked with in latter one was Tommy Ryan, one of the
funniest guys on the job. Six' five, does a older body work
on the side. Got the greatest sense of humor on the job. We
worked together for four years. Over there and I'm covering now and I'm in
one five. He's my chauffeur. When I walk through the door, I'm
like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. It's pretty cool. So
we go out for BI and the guys are in the building back when the
officer could stay in a rig, and we get a phone on for a
PD uh, and I'm like, looking at the address and I'm not too
familiar with the THESS. So he looks at he goes and we're sitting there's
a high school street, a lake, and then past the lake. He's
like, he looks past me and goes, the job's over there, and
you can see smoke. So we tell the guys that come to the rig
and we pull around the corner on I guess rockaway. Pull around. He's
like, we got a job. We got a job. I'm not giving
no ten seventy five until I see fire come. Hey man, So I
mean it was the fall, could have been leaves, it could have been
you know. I'm like no, So we go around. We come around
and see the fire. You know, flame's blowing out the attic and the
second floor. And now I'll give the ten seventy five. No chief coming.
He's somewhere else. He's not coming. He's telling on the radio to
have the senior officer on the scene take command, and that happened to be
spoil in two seventy. So guys did a great job, right up,
puts the bucket up, Guys go in and she comes in. You know,
we try to get up into the attic as much as we can to
people living up there. People start coming down on their own, and you
know, the engine gets in there. We followed them in, do a
search. They did, I mean, awesome job by three or two and
one fifty five. Awesome. I mean, I don't even think they needed
to stretch a second line in the place. They just h's so fast,
we're so close. But that's, you know, coincidence things. You're the
guy you worked with is your chauffeur when your first job is a boss.
So that was the fire over your shoulder, Yes, yes, exactly.
And then you know we get some I'm working one sixty five, get a
basement job, good job going. I called for the line into the kitchen,
and all of a suddenly he has somebody on the radio say no,
I'll bring it to the side door. And I'm in the like, I
don't know who's get it, so maybe it's the chief. I'm like,
oh great. So I walk outside and the flame is blowing up the stairs
now and going into the kitchen. And I'm just like I told the guy
in the second get the line into the kitchen. You know, it's just
because they're starting to hit it in from the window now. And it was
the chauffeur. He goes because I'm sorry, Lou. I told him to
bring the line over because I'm standing out. So I wait for the line
to go down the stairs now and you can see the kitchen rolling and I'm
like, okay, well so now you're in no man's land. Yeah,
shit happens. So then nine to eleven happens. I get the call from
the four to seven battalion or the division says, report to Cunningham Park.
So I'm on the way out there in the car and I get a call
from Sock, report to Roosevelt Island. And I'm just about at the exit
where you would go to go to Cunningham Park. So I'm like, all
right, let me just pull in there. And the chief was my evaluator
in the four to seven that was like logging guys in. I said,
Chief, I got you a call, but I got a call from Sock
to go to Sock. He goes, good, luck and you know,
just let me go. So got over there, Nie Spallaine, Joe Downey,
Jimmy McQuaid and I don't remember who was driving the suburban that we were
down there in, but got down the area after both of them come down,
and you know, and you know what the rest was down there.
But then we kind of set up because because John Norman, I guess,
became the introim chiefs Soccer chief, the chief of SoC and Ingram was part
of it too, So we set up the cash and the communication and the
command post for sock over on Chambers Street. So because myself, Freddie and
Steve Spaull had already been deployed to you know, the Olympics, this is
only there was really nothing else going on between. Then we kind of became
like the rescue team managers at that point and like fifteen teams going out,
you know, the squads, the rescues, everybody having their thing and you
know, everything that happened there. So me though, me and those two
guys and old the other companies down there for like the three weeks until the
one into recovery mode and that's when I went to sixty one and the whole
time I was down at the trade center, the guys from sixty one didn't
lose anybody. One of the only pictures I got, I mean in the
guy from sixty one stepped up for everything they needed company's backfield, No,
we got it. They step up everything. I was so impressed with these
guys because I knew a couple of them. I mean, Shan Jenner's was
the boss. I worked with Genevieves in sixty one up for one guy,
yeah, yeah, one Peter and fall I was in the academy with he
went the four engine. When I went to seven engine. We knew each
other there before he went to Squad one. Yeah, Happy was the other
one, but he left right. And you know, the guys on there
were great. I knew some of them because I worked over there a couple
of times. And you know, when I was in four so before I
got made, so I knew some of the guys. And my cousin there
at that time, Louis Refrano was my cousin. Yeah, be cousin was
absolutely yeah. Yeah. He pulled a nice trick on me. The water
quality for drinking in the FI house was for crap in sixty one, so
I went whatever I could do to get the job, to get us like
bottled water, so they got the machine in the bottle supplies everything. I
come in one day and this goldfish swimming. Louis sitting in there watching me,
and the guys like because they know I got this thing in there,
and they're all watching what my action's gonna be. And I'm just like,
oh, okay, that's nice. Nice, And I was like, you
know, you're probably gonna have to clean that out in like water, And
then they all started cracking up, you know, and Louie turns around and
goes, it's still capped. We slit the bat, you know. But
they got me, you know, they got me. But they had Greatsuma,
but they stepped up for everything. When I was in sixty one,
you know, Anthonine eleven, they asked me where I wanted to go,
and I said, I want to go to sixty one. These guys impressed
me so much, I want to go there. So I went there and
they were great bringing in new guys because we lost guys. We lost Andy
gon uh Faso, we rescues, because the rescues don't want to start training
guys. They want guys on the train. Ye, so they chief Ta's
son, uh Steve Joey went So we lost quite a few guys. So
now we got to bring in guys, and not a lot of senior guys
wanted to go, so we bring guys were like three years on the job
and they wanted to be there, and that was the best part. Defan
came Steve Hardwick, a handful of the guys that came in that place,
and I'm sure you guys know Tony Yeah, was there, absolutely ran It
was my show for mostly eggs. I likes yep, it was my chauffeur
and these guys have stepped up everything. And one day I got a call
from SoC Hey, listen, we need guys at P ninety two, which
was the new OEM because the building got destroyed, so they set up a
temporary OEM a P ninety two, and they were putting the habit teams into
service. So they had fifteen or sixteen ESU vans running around with two ESU
cops as hasmat texs and they're like, well, ass the fight apponement,
did we need guys on these rigs right away? So everybody went down as
everybody was just getting off duty every twenty four. Anybody want to work in
these new habiteae things. One guy running with the issue cops. They all
stepped up, they all went down. I went down myself, and then
after a couple of weeks I left sixty one because Banker came back. You
know, they took all the captains out of the companies in the ABC chart
so they could handle all the arrangements. And even though sixty one didn't lose
anyone, Banker was best friends with Chief Cross, so he took two guys
family. So when he came back, I was bouncing around again and I
told Ingram, you know, you need somebody to do this because we had
no continuity down there. He had two sogeants, a sign twelve and twelve,
twelve and twelve and then whatever cop steering on whatever. We had nobody
like, nobody know whats going on. So I said, I'll run it
for you down here, but you need you know, three officers, and
you need some of thet because he was running his brains out doing everything he
was doing for Hazmat, and you know, the anthrax thing didn't come at
the perfect time, not that devil would be, but he was so busy,
So I took that over for a while until the January first, I
think, and then I got the spot in sixty one, but probably getting
the spot in sixty one. Flight five eighty seven went down and I was
in has Matt headquarters at the Rock and we got a phone call a the
plane just went down in the Rockaways, and we're like, we look out
the window and you could just see the calm of black smoke from me and
I got in the suburban, went over to rescue school and I said to
the guys who were instructing, I said, a plane just went down in
the Rockaways. Who's going Jerry Murtha, Mickey com Boy, I think it
was maybe Mike Davis. They all jumped into suburban with me and we shot
down there. And that was another terrible ship show. You know, you
were down there and you know you're there and it's like, dude, you're
standing on somebody, you know. It was It's like it was May.
It was like such a blur for me, like because it happened so right
and right after nine to eleven, it was just blur. You're like,
what is going on? It was just like I was at the time.
Yeah, you're getting on. You're just like body, body, body,
body, body, poet body. But you know it's just like, yeah,
it didn't. I've said this in the past though, Like you think
yet the nine to eleven, all the guys that came in when or working
and died, right, right, you think we would learn something. But
we're driving down there on Crossbad Boulevard and there's off duty guys fucking flying flying
past us. Late. It's just what we do, right. I end
up passing Rescue three on the van Wick because they were going down to that
thing, so I passed it. And you know then I don't remember his
name. He was also a chief of has mad at the time. He
was a captain that has that won at one time Pete Stobie. Stubie saw
me down there and news, come on, we got to go make sure
that this jet fuel stuff is running to the sewers. And you know,
we gotta get has Been over here and do whatever we gotta do. So,
you know, I guess I was in has Matt at that time,
you know, But Dad, you want to throw up in your mouth again?
So then I get after guy I like Stuby man, I get back
to sixty one, and I got the spot catching some work there, having
a good time training these new guys coming in because they want to be there.
You get to see it in their faces. They want to be there.
And they were all good guys and stepping up everything. And then we
get a run on October fifth. Man, I remember this thing. I
remember this October fIF and two, the Yankees were running the playoffs. David
Wells wasn't pitching so good, and uh well, prior to me going to
sixty one, he asked me to do the celebrity softball game thing, because
you guys grew up together something friends. No, he was best friends with.
My brother introduced me to him when I went to Florida because he was
with the Blue Jays then, so he introduced me to him. I said,
yeah, I mean I want to come to New York. You know,
get your tickets, go to the game, we do whatever, we've
got drinking Okay. So we became friends from that point on, and I
still keep in contact with him. So did the celebrity soball game sixty one.
Then October fifth, he's pitching, he's not doing so well. The
guy's like, come on, well, let's go hit the meal. All
right, let's go get the meal. So it's like seven o'clock getting the
rig. We go out and Pathmark is just kind of around the block from
the firehouse over there. And right as we get to the light by Pathmark
and thet goes off, phone along fire at the windows in country club you
somebody welcome up and someone over a country club and Brian Organos driving me and
we stuck. You know. I was like, all right, so I
still put my bunker pants on because I'm, you know, going out to
the store, so I'm not really dressed, so I still put my pants
on. And then he's like, oh, LOUI you gotta look that up.
All right. I stopped. I grabbed the map book. I'm looking
at it. I'm like, oh no, never mind, I know where
it is. I know where it is. Okay, put the map book
down, get my coat on. So I snapped, and he goes,
oh, you gotta look it up again. I don't know where it is.
So we're going and I'm looking at the map and I can't find this
street to save my life. I mean, country Club's not that big.
And even if you start at the top and made your way all the way
to the bottom. It only takes you like a minute. And I'm going
through it, said, I can't find this street, so I can tell
from my peripheral where we are, and we'll just cross it over the New
England throughway on country Club Road. And all of a sudden, like at
the last second, I see a rig on my right. And apparently,
because I don't from this point on, I don't remember. So I've been
told this is what happened, Brian Organo tells me. I said, look
out, and the guy drew, the officer of fifty truck, Bob Fenty,
who was behind me on the Captain's list, figured he's gonna start taking
guys out, hagging guys out. He wants to get up there can get
themotis fast, mother. So all of a sudden, Bob Fenty's right at
my face and that was it. That's all I remember. But I apparently
went through the windshield. I remember that man. The really Oh yeah,
yes, I remember. They said you were hanging out of hanging out,
hanging out in the front windshield. Yes, it was a good thing that
you stayed there. Well, the desk on the officers side of the rig,
I think actually kept me from going all the way out right because Morgano
only had the steering wheel, and when we got hit, he got ejected
into the street. Yeah, I remember that. I remember talking to him
after and now the rig was still moving because he must have got run over,
right, Yeah, if he didn't grab the bumper, he would have
gotten run over by the rig. So he grabbed the bumper and it dragged
him like over the curb, into the grass and into some bushes, and
he was under the rig at that point. So when Tony Ziola and Brad
Daily from forty one, who was deep I remember Brad, Yeah, Brad,
I came out with him. They couldn't get out of that side of
the rig because we got hit so hard it crumpled the doors that they couldn't
open the door. So Tony told me. He climbed out of window with
bread, walked around to the front of the rig. Didn't need to see
Brian because he was under the rig, saw me hanging out like face down
against the grill and kind of pushed me and hurt. He was like,
loo, I thought you were fucking dead. I couldn't believe it, you
know, Tony what he talks. Yeah, He's like, I pushed you
and you made a sound. Thank god he's not dead. Pushed me back
up in the sea, and then I guess they heard rags underneath the rig
calling, and the two guys behind me, Victor Venning and truck Patagano,
they were pinned there. So I don't know if it was fifty truck that
cut him out it was Rescue three. But I was in and out of
content. I mean, I was unconscious for a while, because it wasn't
until I think Rescue three showed up that I maybe got a little conscious,
a little aware of what was going on. Maybe not aware, but maybe
I woke up a little bit because next thing I see is Scotti Maxwell,
lieutenant Rescue three, who I worked with the forty one. I see him
standing there and he tells me, you got to make sure you tell the
story when he gets up, because the siren is still going. So the
whole time, by the time Rescue three got there and whatever was going on,
the siren of our rig is still going. And I I'm sitting there
in the rig telling him, Scottie, we turn this fucking siren off,
because that's all I could hear at that point you're saying you can't talk to
anybody. And then I went back out and rested, cuts me out of
the rig and gets me on a stretcher and like I'm out of it until
I get back to the hospital. They take the two guys behind me,
those guys on the other side of the right, they were fine, they
didn't get hurt at all, but total two rigs. And when fifty truck
when they hit us, they bounced off, so we kind of went to
the left and they went to the right and there was a car sitting there
at the red light waiting to go. That was the first car. Fifty
truck veers off and hits the car and turns it up sideways. That was
the second picture that Gonzo showed. Kind of turned it up sideways, little
kid in the backseat, woman driver and she's pregnant. Oh you know,
it was like the trice fecta of you know, who could be in the
car. I mean, the only thing missing was like a nun woman with
a little kid in the backseat. You know. It's like So they transferred
Rags right to UH from Jacoby. They transferred right to hospital for special surgery
because his pelvis was shattered. They kept me, Victor Vena, and Chuck
Pettigano in a special intensive care unit over Jacoby. Chuck went out the next
day. He said, I'm fine, I'm fine. They said he had
a cracker. Because I'm fine, I'm fine. He left. So me
and Victor were in there. And do you know Victor, Victor is a
home run. I mean, he's Italian as you can get. He makes
it almost makes Yola look like somebody from Irish fever. You know, his
family comes in, His family is from Italy. They come in and I
just like, I'm sitting here watching an episode of the Sopranos. Oh did
you know the whole thing, like the whole family's coming in, bringing in
food, and I swell, it was like and they were laughing that I
was kind of, you know, comparing them to the soprans the Sopranos,
Thank god they will laughing and to get insulted by it. But well,
the extent the ear injuries Mike I got Dame Bramage. Vertigo was that bleeding
between the brain and the skull. Vertigo screwed up two vertebrae in my neck,
my rotator cuff, my knee, two vertebrae in my back. Wow,
so it took it's still taking time to recover. And that was twenty
to almost twenty three years ago. Now almost twenty two, almost twenty three
years. I think, now whatever the number is, but you know,
remember you get a traumatic brain injury. I mean, it's it was a
long road. It was a very long road. Thank god my wife was
around because she like got on top of everything. You know, got me
the vestibulous therapist I need because I couldn't turn my head without a full blown
vertico episode happening. Couldn't turn my head. I would take my eyes to
look over and it would trigger a vertigo episode. I mean, it was
so bad. Shed like help me to the bathroom. You know, it
was like unbelievable. She got to it's I haven't had it in a while,
but it can. It can pop at any time. And that's why
when I was at the medical office, doctor Kelly, she's like, Lieutenant,
you know you're not gonna be able to go back to work. And
I was like, what do you mean. No. I figured I'm going
to get better, and you know, I'm banged up, but I'll get
better. And she goes, you got vertigo, you've got a brain injury,
your neck injury, back, you can't go back to full duty.
And I was like, all right, well, at this point, you
know, with any overtime that I had, it's like I kind of at
this point, you know, I want to get out because God knows,
who knew the twelve percent was coming, who knew all the other time was
coming? Was on the captain's list, you know. So that was kind
of one of the things. And I remember working that afterwards, like I
don't know if we were covering spots, like uh, you know at the
guys, you're doing stuff like I don't I don't remember, but I remember
covering that. Yeah, they were doing a lot of stuff at the hospital
right after Jacoby that I went up to Burke Rehead in my planes for two
weeks, you know, they were treating my vestibular, they would treat my
brain injury, you know, doing some physical therapy on my neck, in
my back and my shoulder, and it was, uh, it was a
long road, but I'm still here. I was going to say, I
think I remember talking to Rags too. After like many you know, I
don't know how long it took him years right to uh oh absolutely, I
remember talking to him when he was finally getting out. I mean, it's
so like you said, it's so long ago. But I liked him.
We had a pretty good you know, I used to hang out with the
guys from sixty one because I used to hang out with my cousin a lot.
I used to hang out with the Alla and Rags, all the Italian
stallions, right, Pedagano, all the guys's Patty, Yeah, I was
waiting. I'm looking at the chat another Italian. How many guys did it
put out? You? Raggs? Who else? Me and Rags? And
I think the show for from fifty truck I think he went out also,
So he was like face first with Pedagano and Victor behind me, and I
had the officer from fifty bucks. He was just covering there that night.
But a few years later I took we took the kids to a rocking horse
ranch. You know, it's a hill, it's not a mountain, and
they want to learn how to ski go up the little belt. They can
you know, snowplowd down or whatever. And I'm down at the bottom watching
them, and you know, I'm not doing anything physical. I'm sitting still
nowhere near in shape and doing anything. So I see this guy walking around
a grungy hat. It was an fdny hats. I've been walking around with
both key belts like the head and I was like, hey, hey,
you know because I had a shirt on whatever. Finally, like two days
into it, was sitting at the bar. My kids are in the pool.
I could see him from the bar and he's there and I was like,
you in seventy five or thirty three and he goes, yeah, he
goes, you don't remember me, do it? And I'm like, I
hate my guys. I'm like, I'm sorry, man, I got a
bad memory. Now, you know, a little brain injury memory is not
so good. And if you don't, if you think my verbie's not so
good. No, I've been writing the notes down just in case. He's
like, I was the officer in fifty truck that night. No way,
come on. He came to visit me in the hospital. As it's so
many guys. I can't remember half the guys that came. That's crazy,
man. Yeah, and he was like, you know, I'm like and
then by a drink we didn't say and then saying anything. I thought him
a little bit. Yeah, he was. He was great. He became
the captain, he got promoted. I got out before I got promoted.
I was kind of hoping that they get to my number before you'd study.
You kind of like reaped the rewards of your work in But you know,
that was just what it is. But I'm here, and I didn't miss
any of my kids stuff. I would my wife would bring a chaff and
me. She'd sit it down for me on the sideline so I could sit
there and watch the kids games. I was at all of their games throughout
their life. Things happened for a reason, Mike, exactly. My groups
were working Father's Day. My groups will working nine to eleven. I got
promoted the October before those two. This was my you know, I dodged
two bullets. This was my third bullet. That's it. Maybe was telling
me something, get out, So I was telling you, Yeah, So
go hunt in Iowa, Yeah, Iowa, Iowa, Idaho, wherever.
What's the score out there? What's the score speaking of? You know what
it is, right? You know the scores right to one? No,
the real score. Nobody cares a bad high alright, you know over,
wake up, very tired tonight O putting in dishwashes. Give me a little
wa you know, I go to give you. That's what I'm gonna give
you. You gotta give myself, all right, you know what it is.
I think it's that time right now though, my great shot. But
it's that time. Hold on, hold on whole everything you up? Can
you do it? You're awake? Sure? Yeh, yeah, yeah,
yeah. It's time for the old tip of the of the day, day
day, take it away the m Two old old school tips. One for
Proby's big a sponge absorb everything you see. The drills, the senior men,
the officers read when you're not drilling, Learn as much as you can,
because when you're not drilling or reading, you should have a sponge in
your hand. That's the one for the probes. I like that be the
guy everyone will want to count on. And one for new officers because I
saw as a fireman in two pretty busy companies forty one and Rescue four and
the opportunity being on fire floors with these guys and seeing how they act.
The second one is take a deep breath, stay calm, think about what
you're gonna say on the radio, and do not scream. Nobody wants to
hear a screamer on the radio. Remember all the guys that you worked with,
the senior man, the officers, and all the good things that they
taught you, what you learned from them, and how they led you.
Look out for the man, the menal lookout for you. A line ain't
line. There ain't nobody getting getting onto on the firefloor, right, And
you just have that little like in your gut, right, and you're like,
I'm not really sure what's going on here? And then you look over
and then there's your captain who's got like thirty seven years on the job,
and he's like, Lewis bringing the line over here. We're gonna make you
know. He just changes everything right when you don't know, like or you're
you're losing it a little bit to have somebody like you said that what's his
name was the best cheerleader, Harry Ford. Harry Ford, Right. How
many times have you seen that over the years where a guy is just behind,
you know, an officer for an engine, you know, a probi
or you know whatever year guy, two year guy, three years whatever it
is, five year guy, don't matter to do that all the time.
To come on, guys, you're doing a great job. Get in there,
let's go. I mean the sage did a great job. You know,
he was get on, I'm working him. I'm working him. He
was a home run. We got a back door from Mike Roy. Now
here we go, there was a couple of guys. He mentioned we gotta
get get couple. Yeah, it might have been two eighty eight, after
you guys became a squad. He was one of those fat ass runs over
in that section of Queens Arms. And they always live on the top floor.
Yeah, you never look on the first law. They always live on
the top floor. And the net used to get the cargo net right person
squads came into service. They set you guys over Richie EULAs up there.
All right, you're gonna use that as just a vance project. We're gonna
put the four to one over here. We're gonna do this, you guys
go. I'm standing up there on the roof and the guy from the squad
like Mike, I don't know what the hell you just said. I don't
worry, come and be able to take care of it. Got it all
set up, and because you know, that was the sage. The sage,
the sage. I got him rough health, all right? Have no
showsday night. So how do you like them apples? We'll be back on
Monday. Dig up a health and safety tip. I we'll do it monday.
We'll do to them. I like that. You want to do it
now? Yes? Where I got the one? Right? I will be
remissed if I didn't do one. Go ahead, okay, here we go.
The First Responder Center for Excellence is a not for profit organization dedicated to
protecting their lives and livelihoods of first responders. Their education and research initiatives aim
to bring greater awareness and understanding the challenges to the health, safety, and
well being of firefighters, EMS, personnel, and other first responders too.
They are an affiliate of the National Falling Firefighter Foundation. All right, so
the old school health and safety tip tonight is number teen. Healthy lifestyle choices
are important for firefighters health and fitness. Maintain a healthy diet rich and fruits,
nuts, vegetables, and whole rains. Exercise regularly to promote overall health
and fitness. I really got to tell you how shitty it is to eat
the firehouse. Make a couple of smart choices. Drop some salting nuts.
Yeah, if you know, if you're onto like tenth jelly, don'ut,
maybe it's not to put one down, you know, so stop bringing into
the firehouse. Oh salting leave this little people. Yeah, yeah, you
know, maybe have one scoop of ice cream instead of four. All right,
what would they say? Don't be a goon. Don't be as well
put your plate in half when the meal gets served to you, because there
you go. Excellent. All right, what do you got anything else?
Shout outs? Yeah, Actually, Susie's husband passed away yesterday. Oh no,
yeah, so give her all condolence. That was what happen? Was
his name again? Lee? Lee? I'll say my press some press for
leak tonight. I'm so so sure you guys. Yeah all right. Thanks
for Darren for letting us know double D double D in the house. Thanks
to everybody who gave the super chat tonight. Appreciate it. Thanks, Thanks
Cheese for saying no to the boat crews again for yet another year. Thanks
Cheese to spin on it. Cheese, it just came up again. Mister
Cologne has a shoutout too for one of his m whitepd buddies. Oh sorry,
go ahead, Hey, sorry for the background noise. I got Game
seven on actually real quick. Just wanted to make mention of my power Richie
Teamsmump. He was a veteran of the NYPD Bomb Squad of the Emergency Service
Unit. He died Saturday of nine to eleven cancer at the age of seventy
four. He battled it bravely, spent a lot of time down at the
pile looking for his friend's. Marine Corps veterans served in the court from sixty
eight to seventy one, and I just wanted to send my adults to his
family. He was seventy four. Another one of those heroes, Mike,
another one of those heroes. Thank you, guys, appreciate it all right,
mister Roy, Don't don't go anywhere, don't hang up at the end.
Let us go up, we'll sign off. We'll talk you back in
the backstage again. Okay, all right, fellas until all the time,
great career job. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Gonzo was But
it's all right all right here, brother, I am a little tired,
but I'm a couple of yawns back then I'll be going out on the yards.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, all right, all right, guys,
until then, stay long ago and roll heavy. We'll see it the big
one. Everybody, thanks again, Mike, all right, Fellas organize,
all right,