GETTIN' SALTY EXPERIENCE PODCAST Ep.168 | FDNY ENGINE 60 FF JAMES JOHNSTON

You're listening to the Getting Salty Experience podcast. Hello, Johnny Albany, I said it, Look who's back. Look buddy, you're still breathing. Look at him. He is, he's back. Fifteen hours, he's back. Anything. What did you get? Nothing? No, I didn't get anything. I passed on a lot of stuff. I was sending your videos every day. Yeah, yeah, I saw that one. I'm like, what are you doing? My god? No pictures. I don't get out of it. Send me some outdoors. I don't say pictures of the guy skipping

to the forest. It's only a thirty two point. I'm going for thirty five. I'm making it up. I'm going back out. I'm going back out. You're going back out. December first, December. First, Look at that. We're having this conversation. This was it this morning, O God, today, Like I said, what do you actually do up there? Like when there's no action? What what could you do for like eight hours sitting in a tree stand bro Well, I don't understand that. What

are you doing? I mean sitting there, eat up on twiddle, myne phone. He reads books, he does. That's why he misses the deer. And that comes shipping by, you know, no, never you're drinking a little something little, I have a little stiffer I take with me. But yeah, I come out. I don't spend all day in the woods. I come out. I go out in the morning and I come out. How many hours you stay there? You mean in the woods at the time, Yeah, yeah, I'm in the in the dark. Get in

there about probably five thirty, and I stayed until around ten. Nobody cares about Oh if we placed it? I did you do over here? You kept it on track? Over here? You kept he kept it on the rails? Bro all right? God did he keep it on the rails? We diffuse of this yelling. Don's a little bit less show. I don't know what he was doing with playing commercials with no sound. But that's what I told you. That was little stream yoak that stream yard going on.

She fumbled a little bit. He had a little fumble. Then he gets nervous. I can see it in his eyes. No, because I don't like making mistakes. I don't know what you're it was like the deal you're about to shoot. Probably that guy, old ship man, come on, because I hate that ship. How is the guy the department? How was he awesome. Right, I'm trying to get his his father to come on

to him, and his father will be great. Oh you were saying that, He's like, that'll be he's like eighty five, I think or something. We got hit him with the line, right, you can hit him with that line. That guy, we got him before he's gone. They got you got on here. We didn't know how much longer he had. Yeah, oh man, I forgot about. Well, he'll be saying that to you one day, Ruffy. That's all right, and I'll left the same way you will, all right. Of course. Well we got a

guy on who was there. He was Steve and he was doing it in the Bronx back in the war years, Bro sixteen seventeen. Never heard him remember the were you supposed to go to seventeen? No? Thirty three? Oh close, yeah, whatever that's in the Bronx double. This guy was there in the late seventies, Bro. He was doing it in the seventies. Fucking shot doing it in the seventies in the Bronx seventy seven to ninety nine. Yeah, man on the pipe, no less, I don't know

if he was on one. I don't know if he was on during the I gotta ask him, we gotta ask him that if during the blackout out, he probably won. That was July seventy seven. When did he get on? You told me yeah, yeah, got mind. But we gotta play some uh some commercials first. So we're gonna try. Did you play with sound this time? Bro? Possibly? Let's see how it goes. I want to get iron money, will God, you really fumbled that. I mean, were you fumbling him? You just didn't have any sounds.

Some of them had sound. I had a blank screen. I'm doing this on a day. Yeah, we couldn't see him. Yeah, he's just he's throwing up hands, like, what is he doing? If you're going to play with himself? I don't know what he's going back there. So here we go. Let's get from the Jersey Fire Established in nineteen thirty and under the current ownership since nineteen eighty seven, the New Jersey Fire Equipment Company

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music from, but it sounds like the movie from soulaw. Oh yeah, God somewhere you have a god somewhere that it sounds like you got that music from. Watching Chocolate Chocolate He places will find, don't you agree? Ship? We just ran half the movie as he dropped the mic dropping we got a girl in the chat? W W two? Was it? Was it? W two? Yeah? W W two? W W two girl? Yes? Wow? Where is she from? Where's she from? She had mentioned it at one time. I'm sure she'll tell us in the chat.

But she helps us a lot with the likes. Lately, she's been pushing the group for like do it w W two? Where you get that name from? W I like it? W W two Girlrona washed their run out watching We Got Anything. He's in the background. Yeah, is he laughing or is he sleeping? He's got he's gotta he's giggling. You can see his body chuckling. He's left. You gotta let's get him in here. This guy was here. If you see his lid in the background, it looks like a like a Yamaica. It's a it's burnt up, bro.

It's all pointed up like a beanie now on his head, yama You say, I got what's going on? What's going on? His wife is Jewish? I forgot? Actually, Johnso can't get it to bed unless he's wearing the yama cart had good hand. Let's get him in here, rookie, come on coming to the stage. Engine six to oh, Firefighter James Johnston. Right, he's there, he's right there. You gotta bring him in. He's here all right now, he's there. There, he is there.

He is. Look at a handsome fellow with the mustache. He's still got the dish going bro at the mustachee. He's got the green berets wrapping the green beret wearing the back. Where's the green beret on his shirt? Was gonna said it was gonna wear the green beret for the show. Oh, he's got a lot to find out. How that happened? Anyway, bro, But first we got to get patriotic donds. Please here we go. We're gonna get the new one. Oh see can new see by the

jonserly light, what so proudly we held at the twilights last? Please me whose broad stripes and bride stars through the PaaS fight for the red but we watch we're so good ellent Lee's streaming he the rockcket Raglan the bs bste he gay fruit through the night that I flag was ste there? Oh say us that stops spangled badd Where for the land ho the Free and the home of the bread. That's fine, Drea doing account one. We've been gone a while. Maybe you don't know a good one shoes anymore? Bro? Maybe

maybe to go up there. Didn't tell you when you were away over the see home and get your fucking sh Sorry, we'll word of the day because we have a word of the day tonight. Bro. We haven't done that in a while. We do. Let me get what is ready? Yeah? Do it? Oh dad, I'm out. It comes to disclaimer. H you want straight up? No? No, no, dude, come on, what do you do? Come on? It's a family show, bro, not ho you know ho Ho, not, lady ho, my

mind went demented. If you know what I means, you get a thousand barks, Oh, a thousand bucks man, we'll rookie his eyes. Just what actually on Jeopardy? Actually on Jeopardy? Hold, I don't know how you got the name, Then if I tell you, you'll know how I got the name, and you get the gen to get the diesel trying to figure it out by the end of the show. Well, see if we figured out if anybody in the chat knows what the whole daddy is you want

me to I'll wait. There isn't that like a like a little chocolate egg cream or something? What my good, Jimmy, I thought you had to give a disclaimer before you started read it. My disclaimer is, since I've never let the truth get in the way of a good story, my disclaimer is I'm not responsible for the authenticity of my stories. Okay, let's go there. I was left to the right baby. You know you know what's

funny about there? I was, is we one of my off I don't want to skip everything, but what did I have to reply to that? One of my officers, Phil Foul, great great guy? He started them, but he worked with John Mitchell, who was metals. Mitchell one of the most decorated, probably couldn't stay one of the most not deep, but

metals all over the place. And he would start off with Mitchell would put it, you see it in the book what he did, and then Barrel would then say, I the smoke was as thick as pea soup, and I was twenty feet beyond comments. Who's this fowl you speak of? Little let you speak of? Pharrell Farrel was one of my first lieutenants sixty sixty engine. I thought it was the other Pharaoh from thirty one. No, no, no, full full. Farrel was an old time ah all right,

speaking about old times, let's go back, way back. I imagine you were volley first, or because of your volley career, but let's get back to where you grew up. What made you want to be a finman? Any family on the job or what guy interested? You had no family on the job. I started. What happened was my neighbor Mike Kifer, who's related to Kevin Kiefer that Lou knows it's it's Mike was Kevin's older brother,

and we went to school together. We were best friends. His father was in the one door farm, so I grew up in one tour and then when I wasn't quite eight, I was a little older. In eighteen I decided to join the one to a fire department. So it was a busy department. It was a very big department. We would get probably uh ten or twelve jobs a year, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is for a fight department. And I joined in nineteen seventy and a

lot of the fires at that time were in the Leaven homes. Because we covered one toil covered a big area. You covered parts of sect passive belmore passive leather Town, so we covered and then we covered down to Joel's Beach, which was fun for brush fires. If you're at the brush fires, I'm out rush. But the Leaven homes were unusual because what they had they

had the oil burner was actually under the stairs, all right. They had no basements, right, They're all built up the slab a slabs with thel burner behind the kitchen kind of connected to the kitchen, and then it was it was the stairs going up to the second floor. So most of our fires were Levitt homes where the auburner would do something and malfunction some way start a small flying and it would lead up and it would go right up to

the second floor you had. You'd go up the stairs. You'd make it up the stairs and either went right or left the penning or it was me at the stairs, and it was either a bathroom or no bathroom. So you had basically two rooms. And that's where we had a lot of leavit fires. And they were good jobs. I mean, they weren't just you know, one, two, three and they're out. They were good jobs.

And what's kind of funny is when I joined I got into hydraulics part I was a teacher of pumps and a pump and it took me months. When I got in the city and saw the way fire you could push down the hallway, and I would say, you know, we had some good fire and went to why could we make the rooms like New York's, I know their experience and all that. But we me and myself, Billy Laws and we went to seventeen truck were rolling together, Bobby Hutter, who you

guys know. We had Danny Perella who went to one to eleven. It was a tremendous fireman, and then went to forty four truck. We rolled together and we put the fire out. But it was nothing like when I got in the city. And it took me a while to realize. We had an inch and a half first of all, and we had the navy fog nozzles, so at the time they were putting out forty two gallons a

minute. So when you had a room on fire, it took two or three lives to get one room now, whereas in the city the fourth quarter and one hundred and eighty gallons. You know, you're knocking down rooms. But here I am a pump instructor. And it took me a few months in the city to realize why the city was so much better. Just the mane stop coos. What was that? Was the chief from Detroit. Remember he's like, rock Well, baby, Rockwell, you got the Rockwell,

mab I'm swinging the rock well. It was called Rockwell Navy fog nozzles in the air fault business, all right. I had a couple of clicks or something, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah right. And on the top of it, where you could put like kind of like a solid stream, you could also put an applicator in it, and so that that that's what we didn't want to but we we had some good jobs. We had some good jobs we had. We had a tragic accident going to what

I think was a false alarm. It might have been an automatic alarm in a house where our floodlight truck the ladder was in front of it, and they're returning from the call. We had a we had a midship one hundred foot straight area ladder and then we had a flood light truck for obviously lights and all that stuff, and the glare hit the driver of the flood light truck and he rear ended the towel ladder, rear ended our area ladder,

and a ladder went through the windshield. Oh it actually there wasn't blood. I was a captain at the time and we were at headquarters because we were all back, and we responded to it and he was actually pinned in and it turned out later on it just snapped his neck, and obviously we didn't know that, but he was pinned in. We were just trying at the time to get it out. And at the time, this was nineteen seventy, I was in in seventy maybe seventy one and seventy two. We're using

power to get him out. You know. We didn't have her school and were pumping and I thought the jaws were about that big. So it was a tragic thing. He was a real well liked guy and we had that fatality in one to a while while I went away, he died. Yeah, we didn't know that. I mean we the heart was going, I don't know, there was breathing very light. But his neck had seven so he had to obviously no brain function, which we didn't know to this guy,

like god. We finally got him out, and what was bad is we had a doctor who was well known lived on It was on Main Street and he lived on the main street and we sent a couple of guys down to get the doctor and he refused to come out of his house. I'm not going to mention names, but he was a long time once a resident, nice guy. But when he heard what it was and what he might have, he said, I'm like, but I mean we went through we were talking about cutting his I mean, this how nutty we were. We

didn't know any better. We were going to cut his legs to try to get him out of the cab, and h Bobby Hunter took it the worst because Bobby Hunter was a lieutenant on that floodlight. The guy that got killed was the captain and Bobby obviously gave the seat to the captains. Oh my god, so it could have been but Bobby to this, you know, I don't bring it up anymore, but he probably I know, he took it terribly because he's thinking he should have been in the cab. But you

know, things happened the driver. You never know how it turns out. It might that might not even happen, you know what I mean. You don't know how our driver was. The driver was laceration, severe bleeding bed and Frank Seebeck, who was the officer, got killed. Wow, that was That wasn't a good thing, but that was one of the things. And you know, that happened while I was in the one to a fire

department. And then I guess it was a few years later and I'm not braying about this, believe me, but I got elected as a deputy chief and I was probably, i think to this day, one of the youngest. I was just turning twenty five, and uh, you know, I got into twenty and you have to do year year's captain. And then so I got elected and it leads into a funny story. But the third deputy

in one to it didn't get a chiefs call like I have. Now all these suburbans and all these cars, the third deputy had to use his own car, and I had a souped up Camaro, and uh dispatcher was an autobody guy too, so he put a red light. It was heading two balls, A red and white BALLB and I was on my car on your camel. At the time, I was working for guy Goo Insurance, which was up on the North Shore, and the dispatcher would call me up and say, hey, we got something good, you come down here. So

I would jump in by leave work. I was the only guy who's ever in the history of Guygo. They had six seven hundred employers that was put on probation. I felt like, I just hey, Johnston, you're on double secret robation. Just getting up believe them. But I would rev down the Seafroyster Bay, which was the main express run Long Island, and I'd

red down to one tour and never fails. They have the highway cops and they would follow me and they wouldn't pull me over, but they'd follow me and we'd get When they get to the scene, they saw the Chief with a nice red car. They go, is this guy like an FBI agent? And the Chief wouldn't know he's one of our voluis. He goes, well, you don't have a car for him. He's running around. You don't know who he is. He's doing one hundred miles an hour down.

So that was kind of funny. But so I ran for chief. I actually ran against Bobby Hunter, and I kind of granted that we were. I was great friends with his brother and good friends with Bobby, and we had the only tie in the history of one tour. There was three of his study and then the following week they did a run off, and I squeaked it out by a little bit. But I lasted a year and a

half of the Chief's office. And my father said to me, you either gonna be a volley or you're gonna be My father is a tough guy. He as a young kid who was a coal miner in Pennsylvania, so he's so he said, you're either gonna be a volley, a volley chief, or you're gonna be a man and you're gonna buy You're either gonna be a volley chief in rent or you're gonna be a man and move and buy a

house. So I looked at him, and you know, being a twenty four or five year old kid with lights on and you know women and all that, I'm saying, that's a tough decision that I'm gonna look for a house. I'll get a job right, and by the way, you need some insurance. So I lasted a year and a half of the Chief's office, and then I moved out the whole book, which is way out, you know, not that far, but way out in eastern Long Island. But in the meantime I had taken a test, and I didn't realize this

untill I met a guy. My son was playing roller hockey with the Friday the other day, and I met a guy who was going to be in my class in August, and I said, when did we take the test? I kind of forget. I know, we got on in seventy seven, but so we actually took the test in nineteen seventy and seven years wow, nineteen seventy and my list number was two two two three, and what happened is and I remember possible, but what happened was they did the minari

mayor. Beam was the mayor, and they did the minari hiring where they would take for every three white people one for so they did that and then they were layoffs. So here I am, I was probably a week or two away from getting on the city. I was in the dispatching office of the one we had our own dispatcher and once off and the news comes on and my father, now at this time, is saying, you got to get a job. You better wait up to get a job. The news

comes on and may have been job freeze also especially froze. You're done. So I had been working since I was eighteen at Jones Beach and I was picking up papers for two or three years, you know, a kid's job, teenage job. And then I became the ambulance driver because I was a Medican. One tour finally, but I also was a medic, and I became an ambulance driver at Jones Beach. But I was just summers. And at the end of my thing, I'll tell you why the beach relates to

this. I worked seven years at Jones beach and now now I'm not getting on the city. And my father says, you got to snap out of it. So he got me into his He was a treasurer of a big advertising firm in Manhattan. Right. The original building was where the World Trade had it was, but they had moved they got bigger, so he moved to Broadway. I think it was sixty one Broadway, right by Trinity right Trinity Church. Yes, yes, he was originally on Cedar Street, which

is right there. So kind of a funny story. I mean, I might be getting off track, but this kind funny story. He hires me because he's treasurer. There's the president vice president of my father and my job. Since I didn't know what advertising was, I'd gone to post college, but basically, like a lot of people, I didn't know what I was doing there. I'd leave there there was a call, so I never really come, but I did. Finally, I did the five year plan instead

of the four year plan. My father was raided kill me because my father was very brilliant and he saw me not trying to do stuff. So I'm working for him and they give me a job where I'm hiring part time, you know, for for a medical leave. Let's say, if somebody's on leave secretaries and they give me this big book and it had all these time all women, So I don't give a shoot if they you a fifty four. I had to do typing, and then they have to do scenography.

That's how you hired them. And they throw a picture of the girl and then they'd say she types fifty five words and then takes spenography. Well, you know, I mean you look at I can care less what they type. And I'm going through the pictures like he's hot Max. He's swiping left before signing left was right grinding. So I hire. I hired a bunch of people, but one girl I hired was a knockout. I mean a knockout. He comes in and at the time she's there a couple of weeks.

We used to go to lunch down at the at this at the end of Manhattan. I'm trying to see not the seaport, but down towards the end of Manhattan. That was part. I was a sun guy because I always worked at the beach and I love the sun. So this day they're gonna give me a promotion. My father's company the president, and he says, we're gonna let you do executive secretaries, not run of the middle secretaries like I was doing. These are gonna be secretaries for the vice president.

The president knows you already had the hot women you already, so he's like, we gotta get this guy moving on up. That's it. Well, the first girl they send to me, it's not out of my book, this is out of reference. She had come from a big company, almost like an IBM, and she didn't like it there, says she can't do this. She was an older lady and she's been around and knows what's going on. So she comes to where my office was and I said, I

got to take it to this rule where you got to practice typing. There's electric typewriters there, and I got to dictate. You take the dictation down. So she said, I don't. She looked at me and she goes, son, I've been doing this for thirty years. I don't need the practice. I said, well we have, you know, might have a different typewriter. I don't need the practice. So now I'm margining her.

Hey, you got a practice, and I'll be in five minutes and then we'll go through you know where you've been a type what I give you, and then take me, you know, be in the clown. As I leave her, like five minutes and I gotta get back. I leave, and as I leave the girl I hide, it calls me we're going early to the park. And I saw her going in in the morning and she's dressed like that. She told us in a babysit. I said, great,

we'll call up to the park. Ten dollar jacket off, my tie off, and I got my shirt opened up and I run the park. All right, you know where this is going. I'm laying in the park. My one friend's there playing a guitar. I'm there. I'm standing and all of a sudden, about twenty minutes later, I jump up, like this woman's in the room. I left the lady in the room. So I left the in the room. Bro, what fat the girl is back? Because so I run back and as I run back, I get up

to the thirteenth forty elevated door opens up. I got sunburned on my cheeks. I got my shirt open. My suit's wearing into your office and my father's at the door and he goes. I cannot believe this, you are fired, way treasurer. He goes. The president says, we cannot have that. The lady's file on every note complained on the man. So I got canned. So I can this old man bro. And then you went back to the park. He took his jump off bround kids and I say

to see you. But so I left there. I got thrown out of the air. My father wanted to obviously kill me. He was a tough man and I then a bunch of us started taking the test for Washington d C. Fire Department. They were busy, and so a bunch of us volleys went down and took the test for DC and I did well on it. And it turns out that as I was getting called for d C, I had gone down taking the medical done everything. They would call me. The city called wow, that was history. But I would have my best

friend, Billy Lawson. It was a tremendous fot. I mean, we were volleys together. He took to DC and he stayed because his list number was lower than mine. He didn't get called, so he stayed there. But he eventually came back and I got him a sixty engine. Then he went to seventeenth truck. But that's what happened. So that was my kind of like my volley career and getting job that you could tried a thousand words per minute, what seventy, No, we can't use them, so we

can't use it over here. The other girl's hot as bulls. You can't stump cat, but you're hieing. She made fire in my trousers. That was that was one of my u But I then went just fast, I won't get into the volleys anymore, but fast forward I I I rejoined, I moved at a hole brook. I moved back to one tour and it took me about four or five years. So I said, you know what, I think, I want to be a volley again. And then I went up the ladder to the chief. It took eight take six years,

and then you're a chief for two more years. So I was eight years and that's that was good. I mean, I had to put up with the nonsense because we did have women coming in and they were doing the empts, and you get guys doing this and picturing the girl and they called me up and say you gotta do something. You know. It was like kind of you were like a babysitter. But did they finally give you the cardo? Did they give you a car at least when you came back? Yeahful

by that time any car you wanted. So I went up. The ladder was zero three, zero two. And what was good about that? And I'm glad I went back. Is the friendships I made. I'm getting the little teary. But Ronnie Geese and I were chiefs together, Ronnie Cohen and I Dennis Murphy. Dennis Murphy, I believed, was commissioner then, and we all had ball. You know, you all love this. We're all city finding just about you know what. There's probably a couple others I'm missing,

but the group by the towns I were like. Ronnie Geese was in Barrow right here where I was at one tour, and we go on conventions together and it was just a great time. And I'm glad I went back and went through the chiefs office. I turned in, I turned out, I believe for being the youngest chief. Your deputy told what I got out of the chief's office. I think I was the oldest chief they wanted. I was ready to go. It's enough. And then you try to bring

your car in. Oh my god, I remember where just six the engine. Yeah crazy, I brought the car in. When I went out, the light buarb was off and the wheels well taking them. No, lie, I believe it. I just rend was a John Soker. I only made him a couple of times in Responsson Drew. I know, if he's a batalion chief whatever, he would come with his chiefs car. Nobody would thought to him. But it was my firehouse on the blocks. So finally

in seventy seven I get I never thought the list would be reinstated. It wiscon you know, nineteen seventy you take the test and now you get, you know, nineteen seventy seven. So I wind up that I'm gonna. I'm on, you know, in Provy school. And that was kind of funny because I I in seventy seven, I bought my deputy's car there. I had two love that and we were the first class man they had that proby. We were in the new Academy. They had that probs and I

don't know how many years because they were laying bowl actually they would. We were like red meat to them. We didn't have we didn't have key. You probably heard guys on the show. We had the yellow helmets. They were Civil Defense helmets. Yeah yeah, yeah, and you had a yellow raincoat and they we call them slickers. I think we had boots. And the class was unbelievable because the guys in the class, in fact, one of them, two of them went my class. The two oldest guys at

Proby School went to sixty with me. They were thirty five years old. I mean I was twenty six. I thought I was old. They were thirty five. And we'd be running around, you know, the course, because you had a run in the morning. I was out there this hot I was out there in August thre and you run around and like these two guys who I didn't know. One turned out to be a volley in the next town. We became great. We're still to this day like brothers.

But they would take your pulse. They wouldn't let them run. You guys can't run your grandpa. They got anybody's pulse. So that's what they did. And a friend of mine in the volleys, uh says listen, I got it chief saying from the Bronx lives next door to me. And the way I got studying is one of the guys in the volley who taught me.

Who kind of was I instructed when I joined the valleys. One was from uh actually I found our latest was in seventeen truck for a year, but then he went to rescue for Big guy, Great guy Don McKay went to rescue for. And then the other guy, I believe Heffernan, was in you know the heffenn In distributed. I think he was in one to

or two, but I'm pretty sure he was. And then the other guy that that got me into taking the test was in three h two one fifty five and he actually brought us in for a tour and I thought it was great. I mean they had a run and we all go and jump on the rig and the three or two's out the door. One fifty five doesn't start, and I mean it's not starting, and they're sitting there and I'm

going, what the fleet's going on? Is the truck goal He's just sitting on here, and they said, no, no, waiting for the showf he's probably taking a piss And there he is taking a piss at a slop sick and I'm saying, this is great, this is great. But we went out and that's when I got interested in the job. And I took the tests and like I said, got on seventy seven. But while I'm in provy school, I made one mistake. One of the instructors was besides

bringing the volley. So this guy is first I can't think his name now, but he was a big bruis. He was missing a finger. He was in rescue three. He was a lieutenant, and he's he's out there and he's given this speech the first and second day of boarding school and he goes, there's a car in a parking lot. I don't really know what it is, but it's a blue Camaro with some gunball on the top of

the roof. And he goes, if I see the car again, it's gonna be parking Queen and whoever owns it's gonna be walking to program school from Queen Fars. That's it with the car. No more. You know your body is. When I got to sixty seventeen, they had boy. So I my friend tells me he's got a park he's a chief, said he's gonna get you the forty six engine, which I don't know nothing about nothing

in the city. All I know is. I rode once with three Outdore, and I wanted to go to Obviously, I love flyers to this day, I love fiers. I wanted to go to a busy company. So I'm going to forty six. I know, Oh, maybe they're busy. I don't know. So I'm sitting in a lunch room and I always saw a couple of times a week sixty Engine at the Rock, and I'm thinking to myself, boy Dade, I don't give a lot. Maybe they're training.

I don't know what they're doing. But what it was was the captain of sixty Engine was Gene Marvin. I think he has a couple of sons who are chiefs on the job. I don't know if they still are. But he was my turned out to be my captain. But he would take sixty out and he picked the brains of the instructors. Who knows what they're doing out here because we are getting on the job. And guys from the war years ago, they'll leave it. You know, they've had enough,

most of them. I've had enough. You know. He's at the Rock. I'm sitting here and the lunch and I see this captain standing before him, and he goes hey, you jossed him. I get up. I slewed him. I go, yes, sir, he said, would you like to go to sixty engine? So we'd like an idiot? I go, are you busy? So I don't know. He goes, well, we do sixty They had just done sixty six, seventy nine. I always remember that runs and he goes in and we get two or three jobs a

day. There's my hand goes up forget forty six. I don't know where they are, but it turned out there was probably was as busy as sixty. So what made me go is he goes see that EDI over there, see that idiot over there, No, that a'diat over there, and those two old guys they're coming. Would you like to go? And I knew of him from the from the you know, the academy. I'm going. So we wind up all four of us going to sixty engine. Wow. We had Jimmy cochrane who wound up all great guys, but he wound up

Uh. He wound up in a lieutenant rescue three, and then he went to rescue one as a lieutenant and he was a fireman in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which was pretty busy, so he was there. Mike Steele, who you'll hear him mentioned throughout my story. He was my buddy. We would nozzle and back up for almost every job we ever had. We had a beat together and at least two hundred good jobs where I was on a naws when he was my backup. He was a Vietnam thing. He was

a marine in Vietnam. And then Jimmy Lafferty, who was the oldest guy in the provy class. They had said to him, they go, what did you do before this? And he goes, I'm a bartender. I own a bar. He goes, you better go back to the bar. You know, he's on a shade big, but a great I mean a great guy. And he wound up being one of our best chauffs. He wound up getting the sixty and be But but what was funny is now Mormon says to me, I said, well, Sir, I got a hook

to go to forty six. He goes, nobody's got a hook like me. Me and Brouthers are like this. Brothers, not the kid, brothers, the old, the father who's belong dead. But he lived in Massa Peak when Mormon was a Commissioner of Jericho Fire Commission. He goes, whatever I say, you're going. So I said, I'll go to sixty. I'm gonna go with three guys I know of he can. I mean,

I'll go there. When Fundy, we had a lieutenant instructor and he did louders in the afternoon, and he'd come in in the morning, big guy. He looked like a Saint Benard. And he come in in the morning, spitting polish, you know, the everything good, the share pie, you know, with the hat all. And I had him my squad. I think we only had one hundred and twenty five in our party class. Like I said, the rock with brand new and we went for six weeks.

And so I would see him flatters in the afternoon. I looking at him in the morning. The afternoon, no tie, disheveled. He was. You know, we got a few sodas for latch, that's for sure. Yeah, seventeen. So when they come out where they're telling you the company, he run. I mean, I didn't know the guy could run. He runs up to me and he's gotten me in a bear hug. He goes, you're going to a house, You're gonna have a ball. He goes, you're light fire. I said yeah. He goes, do

you like have fun? I said, yeah, you're in the right spot, kid, They're in the right spox. So I wound up going to sixty and I get there, and you know you've heard these stories. I go through the Bronx. I don't know where I'm going. I went in with Jimmy Lafferty for mess peak with the old time. He's with me, and uh, I see all the buildings, you know, occupied, but you know burnt out. Aren't that windows? You know? Boarded seventy?

Some of those pictures it was it looked like this, Jimmy, I'm gonna look yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of them are like that. A lot of them are like that. There's your there's your car. They took my dog mind off. Holy ship, man, I think that might have been not I sid I thought that was a casket factory. No, I have that up there, And then is this one too? That's insane to go back back then sixty and seventeen they were like, right,

that was the Southern Brox. Correct, that was like sixty and seventeen, other than eighty three and twenty nine, which were the buns on the hill. We were the South South South you could go, you know, and we were you know, I learned what the South runs. Man. I didn't know what it meant, but tradition was we you know, you tell, if you met a girl, you met somebody, you'd say, I'm in the South Bronx file. And you know, now the South Bronx

is going on my way up to whatever companies they were. But we, you know, we were the original South Bronx. And I got there and I remember my captain, uh Morman, he's recruiteds and he lines all four of us up. He had us all come a day earlier, whatever it was, and he lines us up and he goes, Johnsin, you're gonna be with Lieutenant Farrell, who was a great grand all salty stutterer, tremendous fire You're gonna be with him. He goes Cockering, you're gonna be with

this lieutenant. And Mike Steel, my partner. He says to somebody else, you're gonna be here, and then he grabs Mike Steel. It turned out to be my best friend, I mean, a tremendous fireman, backed me up on every job we had. And he goes and you're gonna go with Lieutenant Pampalon. Well, pampalone, we didn't know one of the toughest, toughest intimidating person you ever want to see. And so the captain goes to steal. I'm putting you with him because you are a marine and he

wants to kill somebody. You can handle it. He al was petriflied, but I had. I got Phil Fowl as my boss. He calls me in and the first the first tour was a rainy night, and you know, I just thought, if it's a nice night, we're gonna be busy. You know, I don't know what I'm expecting, but I figure rain. You know, you always got to be quiet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So all the guys in the volleys had the part. I had

the City Bronx radio on so that all the volleys are listening. I go off to work to work the night tour, and I walk in and Phil Fowl is the boss and he's sitting at the desk with my delegate. That was a senior guy. He's delegate, and they had a big bottle of soda on the desk, and uh, I'm looking at this. I'm going man, I'm in the right house. This is gonna be, is gonna be, It's gonna be beautiful. And they thought when they heard my name

Johnson, they thought one thing. But then when they saw me Johnstone, I really got spoiled. I don't know why God was with me, but they treated me almost like so I walk in foul Johnson. I don't think, well, he's dead now, but I think for the five or six never knew my first thing. You know what I want to do, and I'm brand new. I said, no, I have you know I'm here admnute. I don't know. What do you want to do? He goes, well, first hat some of the soda. I said, all right,

you know whatever, I have a little soda. And he goes, Here's what I want to do. I want to die in a fly. The whole company. We're gonna die in a fine I'm looking at it. I'm not jerking a brand new a man. Five minutes I'm there. Five minutes, I'm like, I gotta get the hell out of here. He had a massive heart attack. I had a job, but died a little while later. But he almost had his wish. He almost had his wish. Way to scar the ship in the trophy, right, I want to

die and the best he didn't call his first name the whole time. Heknew she meant it. This guy, I mean, he wasn't you know, like the guy would laugh and we're going to die and that that's what I want to do. That's my life. And whenever we had a job, we never really will. I don't't die. The people listening. You wear masks, but a lot of us didn't do that, and he wouldn't wear one. And he would give the score of the fire fire, three fire and nothing fire, eat it up the score. He was he was studying

to be a nurse and he couldn't pass the test. And he was what you guys know what mango is right when you go out to dumpsters and all that. He was the mango guy and he couldn't pay. It turned out he never passed the nursing test, but he didn't be in the back and Marmon now was there a year and he leaves. We were in the basement having a retirement party for one of the chiefs battalion because we had a battalion chief for us, and Marman's hugging us all of us, all four of

us, and he goes, I'm never leaving you guys. No line. The next day was starting. He's got that was coming. I love you guys, I'm never leaving. Take care. See. I wanted to find that picture. But he's got his hugging you know. The basement is you know, soup and knots everybody's and he grabbed us for a picture and he left. He had a tremendous hook. He was a fireman in one twenty

seven. I believe he might have even been a captain man went back as a as a lieutenant day with Doc as a captain because him and Cruthers were very close. And if I had stayed, if he had stayed there, I might have studied. He hated the truck, and the truck were all the engine too, but the trucks still were all salt. The guys Patty McAndrews, who have that picture of me and Patty in sixty at the hydrant, Patty was took me under his wing. He that's Patty, real Irish

guy. Because we were Ya's house obviously, and he was a he was like my father. We were very very very close him, me and Mike Steel my partner as Ustree were very good. Patty was a chauffeur when I got there, and I would sit and listened to his stories. Patty mad Hey. It was incredible because I wanted to do those years that I missed. You know, he took the tests in seventy the war, yes,

eight to seventy five. Where really the war? He is? I mean I saw a lot, but Paddy would sit there and he goes, hey, Katie goes and I picked his brain because I love hearing fire stories. And he would say. We used to have five sections of sixty on a weekend night lined up where you walked in, say it's to eighty eight. I'm too eighty eight the house watch guy, Okay, you're the second section

of sixty. Then another company say from the back, crazy man. The other thing he said it was it was incredible, and at the time they had seventeen to two seventeen sixty and then you picture four or five engines sitting in the street and maybe a towel, and you know, another ladder, and these guys were all on the firehouse and the firehouse was crazy without them. So there was how many guys are in there? There's gotta be be the twenty five guys there, yeah, and the chiefs there, thirty guys

there in there. They had enough jobs for everybody. In fact, the blessed He was our basement where we conducted a lot of our board beatings. The basement had the basement had jacks they used to hold up the floor. In fact, they are just hit the floor a few years back. But the floor sack where the tower ladder was, and we had jacks and they were every they were every two feet away. Yeah, we had them too. Yeah, yeah, So it was like doing it. You'd beat a

basement at a board meeting, the run would committed. It was like a d w Y test and they're close together, by the way, yeah yeah, yeah yeah. And the screws stick out if you if you hit them and hur and the injuries. We had more injuries going from the basement up to the allegedly listen, fantastic, who do we have from seventeen to John Creasy? Was he there? Well? We had captain uh captain laughy too,

right was seventeen. I believe that's what I was made on. You got me following Capital Laffey ninety two and then Chief Hodges and now you got me on there and coming to the stage Jimmy, oh daddy, oh oh, well hold up here. It is so when I got to six, when I got to sixty, a lot of the guys were leaving a couple

of promotions, but mainly they were they were burnt out. You know, you don't you expect that they were burnt out and the fly as they went through with tremendous but uh, the truck, I had three or four guys that were tremendous. You know, I'm gonna use the word tremendous a lot because there's no other way to describe these guys. They were tremendous. Lining Uh, they like have fun, but they were tremendous. I had Dennis

O'Connor, Paul tang them in. Tommy Mahoney was a chauffeur. A bunch of these guys, which Dennis O'Connor, I think, I said, and guys like that who Joe Sullivan was one of the best nozzle of that I ever saw in my life. And they were all tough guys. And then the truck had real senior guys that took crap from nobody. Nobody told anybody there what to do. If you went to a job, you heard nothing

on the radio. You might hear the you heard star water, you heard shut down, and you might occasionally hear the OV if he went if he went to the rear, and you know, reported from the rear. Otherwise you heard nothing from the job. We every guy knew exactly what they do. And it was funny because I'm listening to some of your podcasts and I'm not knocking my house. Believe me, they were great, but some of your podcasts have with I learned from this guy. I learned from this guy.

I learned from this guy. All due respect, I learned fromnother You just did your job. They didn't. They didn't go listen, hit it overhead and ripe it around or put the ladder up this way. You did your job, and they just they would be with you. But you you did. You know what what you were supposed to do. And there were times with the lieutenant we got and the three classes that was on my list, and then the list ended. The last class was December. They had

ten guys came to the firehouse. So that's a lot. You know, you have fitty on the rosta you have a few guys on medical leave, and uh, you know, so ten of us, So a lot of them were in the engine. So my lieutenant would be turning around and there's three pumpkin shields looking at him, you know, and he can look and we're going on the door to a job. But to get back to the

beginning, we had we had three jobs. My first night, we had a I love I love how he gets emotional like that when he's talking about the guy. Yeah, that's great. We had three jobs. Yeah. I get teary when I think about the Yeah, it's good man, it's good stuff. Yeah. And we had a ten thirty, which is a signal you guys know, and they did away with that about yeah, and we were first do for that. Then we had a ten seventy five hole

hands and then which was partially occupied. And then the last fire was a second alarm where we were second due. So that was my first night to him, and you know, you saw these guys in action. I mean, this is one of the fires, you know, to partially occupied, partially occupied you mentioned, Yeah, but that was my first night, so it was exciting, and I mean the guy took I'll tell you I think I can tell these stories. I'm there within one month. Now, I'm

there one month roughly, give and take. Mike Steele and I kind of always liked to work together, one in the same group, so we were allowed to do twenty fours almost immediately, So I was good. And the guys, the old timers wanted that before we got there. They were straight tours, so they're always straight tours, right, Yeah, they were beat up when I got there. You could do twenty fours. So I'm there within a month. The senior man in the truck smacks a covering lieutenant in

the face. Uh, who we I have? We had one of our senior truck guys. Great guy. He handcuffed the chief to the desk in the chief's office. And I'm downstairs with Mike Steele, my partner, and we're new but we're in the basement, which was kind of like a study room, and all the senior memories truckle down here. And there was a guy, John Fullham, great, great guy. He had made a rescue

and got a big medal. I believe his partner did too him. What he did is he hung off his partner, who was Muscle Barren just solid muscle. Vietnam sniper held his legs and he reached over the brownstone, come on, reached over and pulled the lady up from the top of the brown stone up onto the roof. It was so good, it was before just before I got there. It was so good that the chiefs the deputies came down and they said, we wanted to reenact that. We don't believe this

happened. So they got the tooth John Fulham and Tom create a Vietnam slide, but reenacted what they did, not over the not over the parrot laying on the roof with one you know how you height. You have to trust that guy. Holy. So after they reenacted it, did they get that? Did they get the medal? Then? Yeah? Hell yeah, he's talking, Hey they got the metal. But nice first incident, the chauffeur was coming in and he was he bartended during the day and he comes into

work and he was a little late senior man in the truck. Great fireal, great filon and this guy's covered. He said, Brandon, Lieutenant, he doesn't know what's going on. I forget where he's from, but he's not from a busy area. And he goes, who's my chaulf And I said, he'll be in about a half hour, forty five minutes. He goes, it's you know, six thirty. Now he'll be here. So he comes in and he looks like he does, you're not driving me? And Willy goes, what did you just say? He goes, you're not

driving me? Meanwhile, Willie's been a senior chauffer for fifteen years. Open here, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, I'm the chauffeur. I'm driving the rick. If you want to sit next to me, you can. I don't know where you're going to be. I know where I'm gonna be. I don't know where you're going to be. I know where I'm going to be. Exactly what he said. So he winds up. The lieutenant said something to him, and he smacked him, and luckily we got Chief Patterson was a great, well i'm saying great a lot,

but they were. He was a black chief, the calmest guy I ever saw in my entire life. He would as the companies would come in on a second or third law, he would shake Garyway's hand. Right. Gonzo put that one down in the book, Gonzo, I'll do that let me write that right now, Lieutenant Rao, who you're with, I'm with the seventy one. Do you think you could get a line for me? And just that's the way yacht. The building's fully involved, and he's could you

get online here? Cammas guy. He happened to be the chief that night and he called the new lieutenant up and he says, how long if you have been bouncing? And the lieutenant goes, I'm brand new, maybe a week, two weeks. He goes, I'm gonna get your spot. Nothing happened here tonight and I'm getting your spot. And that's what happened. He incident how to wash it? And then one of our chiefs, good guy, but he used to make sure you knew he was the chief like and

he was a little guy, smaller than me. We call him shorty pants. He he mouthed off the probably our toughest guy in the truck, great, great guy, great fireman, but a tough, tough guy. And he mounted off to him and he had been a cop. He went up to his locker, took handcuffs and he handcuffed in the chair and he says, you're not getting out of the handcuffs. So you apologize to me. They get him run just as he's being handcuffed, they get a run.

Everybody goes. It turned out out to be a job, and it was everybody's going, we don't know what we got. And he goes downstairs and he tells he, hey, the Chief's not going to make this one. I suggest he apologized. And then the third incident, this is on within a month. So I'm brand new and I see these. You know you talk about salty guys. These guys were salty. The third one is I'm in the basement with Mike Steele, was sitting opposite one another long table.

We got a long table and John Fulham, who had just made the rescue a few months prior, wanted to go. He bunted out he wanted to go to one twenty seven Trumck. So he's sitting at the table, ahole bunch of senior guys and me and Mike Steele and Shorty Pants comes down and he says, Johnny wanna just came out and guess a lot, you're not on the order. It's crazy because he wanted though he's gonna be on that order, and the chief just rubbed it in guess right, you're not on

the order. Well, Fulham takes a six pack of coke and flings it at the cheet and he flings it at him. Well, me and Mike, we're there a month. We go under the table. It was like the Three Stooges. We bumped heads under the table and we scrawled something getting up he so we sucked that. It about. That's all within a month that happened. It was like the mm hmm we lost the sund He's gotta go out on the side again. Dude, that guy is funny man,

Holy mackerel, he's that was going on in the fucking seventies. Holy mackerel. Is there a month? This was one of his jobs that he was talking about to us. Said, while he's coming in, see if he comes back. We have that Brooklyn picture to coops if you want to at the end, it was that was a three bag of from he's back in, he's back up there, we go, no, no sound, go back out? How come? What do you think that's happening? I don't

know. It's his he's on an older I pad, he said, so I'll have to get his wife and that he might have to Oh, there. He just disconnected. So I told you was going to be a great podcast. Oh man, So oh I didn't. You didn't even gett his first month, for God's sake, talking about any of the stories he told me about. Yet, no, come on, no, no, no, no, good no boy, no, no is he muted? No? No, he's not muted here? You know he was, Uh what can we what did we have to do? God? What do you think

exactly? That he was fine? And when we had to send him out and bring him back in and it worked fine. So I'll have to try to do it again one more time. Try to go back out. Now, let me kick him out myself. Let me see what happens until him we'll come back in. See if I was kicking him out the last time, you kicked him out? Exactly what we just did? We touch? Why? I told him go out and come back in? And Richter says, Jimmy was a riot. I was in the volage with him. I'll

bet man has my face hurt? It's only an hour. Yeah, I'm trying to think what we're gonna do if you can't get on like what the phone? Letbe get on his phone? Yeah, yeah, I'll take a quick whiz. Yeah, malla, see if you come back in well, anyway, stand by folks, let's see. Yeah, we're good here you are. I want to any time on this, you know, I want more time. Now, we'll add a little bit more for you. Your muted, your muted, you muted. I said, you got it.

We'll add you. We'll added three minutes for your Yeah, I have, I have. Like I said, he's the mango guy. And one morning he gets up and I was kind of like a late guy. I used to like to get up maybe nine thirtyclock. So he wakes me up and he goes, get your chitchen. Round up the boys, Louis ten o'clock.

What's going on. We're getting cobblestones because where I work, which was good, is we had the peniments, the old wam Knew Law tenements, we had a commercial area, and we had brown stones, so we had a little bit of everything. You know. We get the car fires left and right. Every day, we three car fires. So he says, round up the men. We're getting cobble stones way up the ascent of our

district. So we go down here. We're loading the cobblestones. We got the hose bed pat and his thing was, you make me if I'm happy, if Mary's happy as wife, I'm happy. And if I'm happy, you guys are happy. Yes, round the boys up, We get the cop stones, whould get a job and it's we're supposed to be second due and we wind up. You know it happens, you're out a bi or something or whatever. We wind up third do But our chief, our chief, we had a chief and the two six came in and I said it

one fourth for this five. One four must have been out. And it was a guy that was a grumpy, grumpy chief. I don't even know why he's on a job, but it should have been somewhere else. But he would yell at everything. So now we pull in third through. We raced down. We pull in third dough and he meets us at the engine and he's screaming at us, get in on the line. We're losing it. Get another line. So Mike and I jump off the back. Mike's

my partner at me, I got the knob. As we get to the back, we both remember the host Ben is covered with cob with cobblestones. Holy ship, you can't you can't pull nothing. She goes back to like the command, you know, and he looks down the block and all you see his hands screaming at us. You put Jess all and send the cobble stones. And being that was Phil Fowell. He just was a great, great guy. And it was funny because the chauffur we had. His chauffeur

was Louis Morales, another good, good guy. But for some reason at times Louis was a good fire I mean didn't want to be a chaulfur. And we were all young, so they said, lo, you gotta you gotta go to Shelfer school because you know Johnson's you're here a year or two and blah blah blah. So Louis would drive, but he would always make a hat. If it was multiple lines and we were the first dude, we would get charged. Online would get charged Thurnder and follow would always run

out of your office and forget something. Well, we had a good job. It was a top floor fire were first to but our fourth guy broke it down and hooked on the opposite society, on the office society. The next company comes in hooked in front of Louis. Phil fowre great fireman who won the die in a fire. He's got cane shoes on, no boots, cane shoes, you know, like mytt with caine's on it. And

it flowers roaring through the department door. And we got no water, and I had hit the holes and it must have been a residual of water from him whatever else happened, and maybe a spit got out, and it was enough that between the heat of the fire and a little bit of water that fell out of the nausal fowl shoes are on fire and he's he's hopping and at the same time he's the guy that started. He's trying to cool Louis. Louis, it was just a fool. We started out nothing fires when

nothing that was still foul. The last foul story, Oh my god. He mangoed and he had a daughter manned out to be a cop. But she at the time, she was a young you know, maybe seventeen or eighteen, but a tough girl. So he gets we're working a night to him and he says, uh, load up, just so it is on the rate. We're going about eight blocks. We had one street and nobody knew the name of it. It was like a rare street with just a

block and it was nothing on it, but he found coming in. He used to scout around because he loved cars, and he wants to mango this car. And it's pouring ready, so he's out with replyings and everything. He's trying to get the transmission out of this freaking car to get up. You know, it's up on block and he's trying to get this transmit to drop the transmission and it's raining. So we're sitting in the cab and we're watching this out. So next thing you know, he comes back to the

cab and I figure he's gonna tell us to help him. So he comes up and he opens the door and we're having a good time. You know, when we're in the cab, we're just having some fun. He goes put that stuff down, so we drop what we're doing, breaking, you know, Solda and then put it down and he goes get the toe cables out. So he goes, at your time, you set the tables down. He worked the tone of car. He fly, no wheels, nothing looked at kidding me. You know what. I always respect him. He

was a great guy. But I used to tease him. I go, it's got nothing on it. It's gonna well. We told the car like eight blocks through the South Bronx the spot, and he got it back into the firehouse where we you know, would where he could work on it. We had a little park a lot and he worked on a freaking car. But he was just a funny guy, a good fireman. And uh, you know he like I said, he had he wanted to die on the fire and he had the heart attack and but he was a he was a

really good guy. But one thing I missed. I know I missed a lot, and I don't mean a boy you guys, But one thing I missed is when I got there, I was very depressing. Is we had an interchange. And you've heard about the interview, and uh, one thing I wanted to ask a little quiz question. I don't know if you had it on any of your podcast, but on the side of our engine sixty, we had a seventy five map. There was a whale on it. You know what that was? Oh well, not the that was water.

We had that and the first couple of jobs we'd go to. It was supposed to cut down the friction lawsuit right right right, slip it slip it through or something right, and we'd be sliding all of you know. The most they large the line, you know what I mean, you have it on your shoes going up on the stage, and it was unbelievable. But the pressing, the pressing pall was we had anterchange and every third night you left, so us young guys, we couldn't pick what I'm working with with

lou with coops and stuff like that. The gods, they would tell you when you worked the twenty four and you'd always get stuck and we'd be out in Our company was three sixteen. It was our interchange. And then my second year we went to two fifty nine and you'd sit out there and you hear Bronx announcing all hands or a second alarm and the beat. We had two to one boxes two one two two two one two three, and you

know it's the press. We want to fight fires. So our chief, our captain used to call out, well, the first thing with three sixteen is they had we had a shovel call to keep the heat on. And this one night we go out to three sixteen and we used to always have fun going there were single engine. We'd do whatever I mean, we had fun everywhere, but we were just a fun break, a bunch of guys

who we think were good fining. That's the motto. And we go out to three sixteen and one thing leads to another and nobody's thinking about shoveling call rolling that movie who shovel Call? We forget about it. We get up in the morning because Stay used to bring our rig back and then we get it. That's how it worked, because we'd leave a man back and our rig was packed for the Bronx and their rig was packed with Queen's fire and you know three sixteen. Yeah, they had bond doors they used to open

no left the doors used to open the barn doors. Jarney Street, I think, yeah, I think you're right on that. Yeah, I think you're right. So we we don't shovel the call. And what happens is is the fire goes out. Now I know nothing about coal flys, but I found out quickly that when coal goes out, hours and hours for to get stoke up, to get the heat got it started. Again. Right. Yeah, Well, we get up in the morning, Mike and I again my partner work. We get up in the morning, going man it's

colding here. We're both looking at each other. Oh my god. So they pull a rig in and we no, hello, good, but we see it. We get back to quarters. Sure enough the phone rings like an idiot. I don't know who it is. I answered the house watch sixty sixty seventeen. But fire Majustin, were you just out here in three sixteen? I said, yeah, yeah, we will when we see you. Guys, we're kicking your ranchers were closing in here, so we let the call go out. It was short, but it probably took until three

d afternoon to get the fire out, as we forget allway. But we were going and so getting so depressed. Our captain would call up. There was a chief and a sixth pot time. I heard him mention before on on your podcast, Chief Memocheck. He was a deputy commander. Great, great guy. He turned out. He was a fire instructor in Suffolk, old salty guy. In fact, he saw us, He saw Mike and I in our group stretching. We used to stretch fire escape stretch. We

used to a fight. When you get on you got a fire escape poard. We took that through. Righting the garbage we'd stretch around a fire escape, and he used to grab our officers because we did it more than once and we did a quick stretch. It was like an interior stretcher. That's how right. And he used to grab him. Asso never fails. When he was a deputy at a multiple regis stretching, he would say, if I see that act again, he goes. First of all, I didn't

believe what those guys did. They got up there like unbelievable. But if I had to see you guys do began, there's going to be hell to play pay. But we used to just have you know, if there were so many lines going to need to deal with it. Instead of right, you'd have to go up the fire escape. Theirs went up the fire escape. We uh, so we're into change, and our captain would call and he'd always he got He started by saying, Lou's wife's having a baby in

any day. We got to keep the boys back because the senior guys or he wouldn't go. And then that kept going on, and then Chief Patterson, that black chief. I said, there was a great guy. On a Friday Saturday, when he interchange came, he would he would grant the you officer, and they were not I'm not knocking that, but they were all the time guys. They probably half of them probably did great fire, dude, but now they're you know, they're older. And they would come

in and he would grant the tennant, always shake his hand. He goes, listen, Louke, if you don't mind, the freaking natives are getting restless tonight. We think we're gonna have a good night, would you mind going back and will stay? So they would go back and we'd stay. Yeah, and we'd do the childbirth again and finally met check. We called that captain and he said, listen to me. He said, over the last four months, according to my calculations, you've had seventy three babies in

your flag. So we would get the change, and then we went to two point fifty nine per year, and then we went back. But it was funny because while he was there and the old time, there's no way better stories than me. But we'd have the bells. They were weaning off the bells, so we would have the bells from nine to noon. And you've probably heard stories about pampalonho that a pampalone is a tough tough guy.

He was from forty two trucks, the Elephant Man. He was one of our lieutenants and he was just if you looked at him, you got intimidated. So he he with Mike and I are sweeping the apparatus four eighty three shoots by lights and saty twenty ninth suits by lights and sort the bells. It was like nine thirty. They banged out the bells and we never counted them right before my gods blade. He would always come out and he was just an intimidating guy, great guy, and he would just look at him

and you go, excuse me, Who's who's counting the bells? Me we were off one digit, but if it went from two one or two to two to two three, so we thought, yeah, you don't go, yeah, yeah you don't. You're not going home. Box right down eighty three, ten seventy five. It wasn't. So he had one of the senior guys just almost like a joke, but he'd had them dig out and Mike and I had to count the bells to make sure we got the bells right. But I had a Pampala was such an intimidating guy. One of

the guys. Like I said, ten guys came, probably seven went to the engine and two of the guys want to quit because he was just that intimidating, and I got I lucked out. I didn't good with him because we had one of the Bronx spectaculars. I worked New Year's Eve. I'm only on the job three months. I probably got to the firehouse August September maybe some Pembroke Doba. New Year's Eve. We get a tremendous job occupied building and I was a volleyme one too. I knew what fires were.

But I look up and this thing's going from the first floor almost through the roof. It was, and it was occupied. People are coming all over. They had lit, which they did commonly by us and other places. They lift the stairwell up and took everything. They wanted to kill somebody, and so they lit all the well. I get out of the rake and I'm looking up and I fall over the current and pampalone gives me a look and he's going, oh my god, this is the guy I got yet,

Oh my god. So he didn't know what to expect from me or what. But anyway, it turns out I'm the fourth guy on the line. We have a We had a guy that was one of the biggest guys in the fight department at the time, Bruce, and he was about three hundred and fifty pounds, but he could move. He actually skied pretty well, but he was enormous, enormous, and guys always wanted to get behind him because he blocked everything. So he had the nozzle Bobby Wasp, who

eventually great firehim and eventually was on fire control. Then got he got to seventeen. He was in sixty that night. He was back up. Then we had this guy Tommy O'Connell, who was a legend in eighty three and twenty nine, I mean, tremendous nozzman. He was third, and then they had me and we're moving in and we're moving because we got to hit the first floor so the other companies can get above us. So back then,

at times it was an interchange company. You always left the guy on the floor to make sure they had the fly floor before you start stretching up. If it was our guys eighty three, seventy one, forty one, you just went up. You didn't wait. You knew that guys had it, so we're starting to move up. It was a long hallway and I hear screaming. I'm like, oh my god, what the freak is this? And I'm three months And next thing you know, Bruce Wick obum all

three hundred and fifty pounds. They're passing him or trying to pass him out. He gets burnt bad, so he's being passed back. Thirty seconds later, Bobby wats the backup. He's screaming, he gets burnt. They're backing him out. So the next thing I know, it's I'm it's Timmy O'Connell, the greatest smiles of in and maybe play. He's new and Pampalon doesn't want him. He wants me the proby and he's screaming. He never wore a mask, and he's screaming, get my proby up here. I don't

want to detail. I want my man. I'm like, oh my god, everyone's part. I'm getting out here. So I get up on the line. He pushes like Tanye O'Connell behind him and he sits on my leg. I mean the you know, the duck pison. I'm gonna do duck walk and he sits on my leg Pampalon back then was probably about two thirty solid and I'm on my leg and I'm screaming at him, get off my No, I'm screaming at him. I want to move in. That's what I said first. And I had a mask at the time. I was

brand new how to put them. So he's going, you're not backing out. I said, I I want to move. I want to You're not going anywhere. So finally I ripped my mask off and I said, you're on my legs. And we did a good you know, we did a good job. And from that point on he still would yell at me, but I was like his Mike and I were like his pride people. Because it was a tremendous fire. I think it went to a third or fourth alarm, and we were first bull and it was it was. It was

good. It's funny because I look back and I four house fires in one tour. You know, we'd get ten jobs. I must have went to maybe thirty or so forty house fires lies and one tour their first time. And there's nothing like a tenement, I know. You know a lot of guys having four tenements or maybe they had, but especially when they're upper the upper floors, because you're walking up and people are coming down, and you know the flyers up there whereas and I'm not not the house fires, but

a lot of private dwellings. You're almost met with the fire. You don't have time really to stretch and here's to fire it generally, or maybe you go to the second floor. But here you walk and we had five and six stories fires in the railroad flat and you walk it up and you going, this is fantastic, and a funny story about that. We might steal. Like I said, we were the Nozzle team. He never tried to fight me for the Nozle Vietnam ven He was a platoon leader in Vietnam.

Tough, tough guy, but he'd always be willing to be my doctor. And we had a fly, of course from the floor roh. Another spectacular. In fact, Patty McAndrews our senior chauffeur, later said I never saw a fly blow out a window that it blew out, not just out the

window, it blew like almost across the street. It was the fifth floor of the sixth story tenable and we're going up the four to zero precincts across the street and as we're going up, you know, you got to get around the newer post going up, and we got to get to the fifth floor to put it out, and the ruckus wants us to get there and they're gonna go above. In fact, Pete Leziska is one of the most tremendous firemen. He came on just after me. Big guy he was.

I was talking to you about him. He was lieutenant one seventeen, but he had a lot long career before he became. He took the task and he metal guy. He got a good grab, a good metal and a good grab. But we're walking steal and I at first, you know, the trucks wait, we're trying to get up the stairs, and the four to zero cops battle past me going down the skip just like push me out

of the way. And I got the knob and you know, you gotta fold, and I'm getting ready to get to the fire floor and drop it. And as we're going from I guess the third to the fourth the fold, the fold won't go anymore, and I'm like looking down and there's Mike, my partner, and this is the way we were. This is a typical Mike steel and knee story. We're trying to get around the poles won't go and I yelled down, Mike, get the hose around. The new apole says it suck. He goes no. I said, well, get

the hose up here. He goes, I don't think so. And look I'm getting down. I said, what do you mean you don't think so? He said, the cops just told me don't get up there. You're gonna get killed. He was holding it. That was Mike, and then we went off. But that that just relaxed everybody, you know, to hear him don't go up there. The cops told me we would go up and and and you know, do our job and do a thing. And we just had We just had fun. In fact, it was funny.

We had a covering, We had a lieutenant that got there his first day. And again Mike and I hate to keep saying Mike and I, because we had Billy Laws, and we had Tommy Martin, we had Eddie McCallan, all fantastic five, Tommy Fresh Hour, Jenny Rooney. I'm missing a bunch of guys, but all fantastic. But oh, Daddy, he wasn't daddy. Mike and I always generally work together. So we get this, We get this uh a job and over in the hall of because we go

third due a lot to hall and get action there. You know, we got our own action and go into sixty nine and where my son wound up fifty nine and guy companies like that at eighty engine. So we get a job over the halem. It's good fire and uh they needed two lines on the top floor, so we'd stretch a line and got to the top floor. We come back and Tommy Lapolo is offs a great, great guy, funny guy, always laughing. But we don't know this his first first tour

and we get this job. So we pull out a quarter and he's banging you guys are officers, I was, you're banging on the window. Well, he banging banging on the window. We get back from the job and we go out and we had a yard. So we're going out in the yard and having some water to refresh and all that stuff. So Mike goes, why don't you go in and ask the new lieutenant if he wants to come out with us and have water. So I says, yeah, right, So I go in and I said lou would you like to come out?

So he goes, yeah, yeah, sure, and he's always smiling and laught. So he comes out and he's in the yard, and after my second and third glass of water, I said to Steel, I said, I got to talk to him. And there's a whole bunch of guys. We're all out there. You know, we had a good job. We're all out there talking about the job. And so he comes out. I said, Lou, can I talk to you a minute? You know, the guy's listen. He said, yeah, what's up. You're Jimmy

right. I said yeah. He goes, oh, no, the captain told me about you, and I said yeah, I said, well forget about what the captain I'm trying to talk to you. Yeah. Well, well what do you want? I said, no more bang out the window. He goes, what And then he's looking at him and he's got the grin like you're laughing. I says, Mike, and I want no bang on the window. Nine's out. He goes, what are you talking about? We don't want to know nothing until we get to the job. We

like to be surprised. I said, if you start banging on the wind right him and I get very nervous. We don't like that. We don't want to know. Don't like that, not until we pull up in front of the building. But it was it was a good story and another Mike Steele's story. He just called me today with it. I had forgotten about it. We get a Brownstone in the basement, now you know the brown

saws at the basement, and you got the seller. And we get a fire in the basement and we go down and we Chief Francis was a battire chief. He was also a lieutenant or captain in Probie school and he was in charge of Mike's squad. I was Squad one, he was Squad three. So Francis gets Mike to helps to get Mike to sixty. You know. Also he tells our Captain Mormon when sixty pulled out, listen, I got a guy for you, Mike Steele, Marine prim and proper. He's

a good guy for sixty. And that's how Marmon recruited him. And then where he got out of me and stuff like that. So we get this job and Francis is the boss and we come out. We knocked this thing out like nobody knew. We knocked it out that quick. We got in there and freaking blew this thing apart. Come back out. We're high fiving each other, but the job. Look at that Couppany's coming in all out. Don't worry about it, all out, don't worry about it. Yeah,

rare high five. Ranch just comes over his steel and he starts screaming at him, you freaking asshole. I thought you were gonna be something. You're nothing. And Steal's looking at him. I mean, you know, still goes let's chief. Let's tell him I taught you prot me school on a brownstone. You go on the floor above and protect the interior stairway. And he's screaming Mike and he's going give a jackson. Let us see. I don't care what he let me. That sleeve, you that long,

great job. You know, maybe another company might have taken a little bit longer, you know, I don't know, but it was just a SPECTOCTRALA we'll high five and and he screamed back to quarters that Mario Descento was God bless him, the Commas lieutenant, one of the commas we have had. He was from one away truck. I believe they got promoted. But all my guys, which is kind of cool. All the guys who got promoted, the lieutenants, all had fifteen or sixteen years. It wasn't like you

had seven or eight years. These guys are all salty and they got promoted. So in fact, one of the guys, one of the lieutenants, came from ninety Andrew. This is a single house at hall, very busy back. Then he comes into quarters. He's got a big scar, Dan and I love that. Mike, Captain Gray Fim and all busy Harlem companies. Pretty boy, no scars. I this guy, boy, he's got scars down in his face and all this. And I go, hey,

Lou gets the spot in sixty. I go where we are from. He goes ninety and he goes, I'm going to teach you guys how you stretched around the newer pose and stuff like that. I said, look, I said, first of all, how long you've been lieutenant, like fifteen twenty years? Old timer? Beat up? I mean he's beat up. He goes about five and a half hours years, I'm busy company. So he's going to tell me how to stretch. I said, look, with all

due respect, you have way more time than me. You got to see Mike and I stretch out of the fire escape, then you'll know how to stretch. But he was good so with downstairs or with bs and and stuff. I got to know him a little bit. I said, by the way, what'd you get that scar? I mean, did the four collapse A ceiling collapse? I mean the big gun of the no. I was leaving work and he said, I went off the side of the road up fourth isl and hit it three by that. He was a real, real

good guy, great all. So he actually was doing a chief of favor and he went to one h three truck and he didn't like it. He went in later in career he wound up going to a slow engine. But he used to, you know, come back to sixty a lot in the parties. And I said, how's it going there? I go there, busy, goes busy, he goes. They baran me that they they're on the opposite. You know, we were like Jennifer sometimes we take the poll, no baloing, anybody get on the window government. But he it was.

It was a good time with him, and uh uh hey, hey, Jimmy, I want to ask you a question. How do you mean that you never wanted to go to the truck. Well, here a good story, funny story, good store. I get to do about five or six years. And that's who we were told back then you go to the engine. If you're signed to the engine, do five or six years and he goes and then then you can go to the truck or think about it. So the captain of the truck asked me to come over and night and

uh so we're gonna go partners. We're gonna go courss at four seventeen truck and uh I go in. I had an Irish camp. We had two Irish captains. One was very strict, but he knew what was going on, but he but he was strict. Happened mcgrail. He came on the leeds. After a year, mcgrail comes. You couldn't understand one word he said. I drove him one night. I was a backup show for but I was probably the worst backup show for the city because I never wanted to

drive. So I didn't have my heart because I never knew the streets. We had small area I go through, but he would. I remember driving him to a job and I'm going down the block and I'm going, Cap, do I make a left? Up there? Do I make a right? What do I make a left and make it right? Turn? And I don't know what he's saying, So I make a left, perfect English. He goes, I told you to make a right. So like no brawl to brogue left him happened in the trust. So I grabbed Mike.

I said, Michael, I'm going in and I'm gonna ask mcgrail for fill out of paper. I'm going to seventeen. All right, all right, you go in first. I said, no, you go in first. You're the marine. Go in first. You're the marine, you go in. So I wind up going in first. He throws, I can get the form C whatever the form was, cirty CD thirty. I get the form. You know, it takes a little while fill it out. So

I'm in the office ten of fifteen minutes filling out this form. And I get done filling out, I said, Cap, I just need your signature. Walking up to the batanion. You you think I'm signing that, go what you'll go nowhere? You're going nowhere? And tell that how any idiot that's listening at the door, he's not going in. He wouldn't let us go because we were the senior men at the time, our senior I had three years or four years guys had left. I was senior guy in the

fireouts or one of a senior. I don't mean the senior, but wanted to see it. Joe Sullivan went to the truck pull tang them and went to the truck. Dennis kind of got promoter lieutenant went up to fifty nine truck Pampa on left sixty. Amazing, how fast that happens too, right when you're in thereouse. It really is crazy. I believe you got like a sweet spot. Everybody's good, and then everybody's gone that fast. So

we wound up. I didn't transfer, and then after he ripped my pa, he let me fill everything on into it the gbage, and I said, and he you know, he meant. I understand where he was coming from, but he could have told me when I walked in. He let everything go and then that throw you're out of here. So I and you knew Mike was at the door. It was so funny, and tell that out at the door, he's not going anywhere either. So we both stayed in the Engines. Mike, I don't think really wanted to go. I

did, so we stayed in sixteen. We did our career there. I mean I I Mike became a backup show for. I became a backup show for. But like I said, I my heart wasn't in it. Uh. We got we got another captain, Captain Gibblin who just passed away. He was a little Irish leprechaun. He was our copy that. He was just a funny, funny guy. And we had a job once with it. We had a lot of stories with Giblin, a lot of you know. But anyway, we had a job at a It was a printing press

with that crazy smoke. And we're in there. The meal was on just about ready. We go in there. Chief Kilker is the deputy and he's standing there and we go in and I happen to tell Gibblin, by the way, Cap, let's put this thing out quick. The meal's on. He gets on the air with the radio. He calls the chief said Richie Mills was a black guy, good guy. He calls the aid of the fourteep a Pang, and he gives him the whole meal. The recipe and

everything. Richie go this in the middle of the companies are coming in knocking down because there was a big building. They're in the side of the building. We're in this park and we're making headway. Gibblin doesn't he you know, I yat. He yaps like a and with the Eyrish bro you can hardly understand him either. And he's going, all right to go back and turn the potatoes off and turn the meat over and put that on three fifty. Well Kilke hears this and he goes, is that that little leprekun out

there in the fire And they goes, yeah, it's Captain Gibblet. Go in and get him out and get him back to quarters right now. So next thing, no, I got the radio. I mean, you give him back and then she's caught. He wouldn't, he wouldn't. He just wouldn't stop. I mean, he was just a funny, funny guy. But Kilker was funny because we had a we had a good fly. Now I'm at the latter part of my career. We'd we'd come out with no next hoods and I don't reckon you got I tell my son, you got

to wear the hook. You got to wear the book. But you know, back then I just was set my ways. I'm not wearing the hook. I wrote a bunker gear when I I'm not wearing a hood. So we had a tremendous fire one hundred and thirty eighth Street, second do and we didn't know it. Rescue found it. Actually it went to a third alarm, the fourth alarm, and we were second and we had to go to the floor above it. What it was was we thought it was on

the first floor. Eighty three were tremendous firing. They went in, they couldn't they couldn't really find the fire, tremendous heat. What the guy had done in the owner of the building is he put those inch or three quarter inch steel plates around the basement in the basement and he had all jewelry stored in his own jewelry shops and he kept all his jewelry in there, and

he didn't want anybody to get in there. So the basement, other than the steel door, had all steel plates around it, so you couldn't see nothing, and the heat was burning through. We lost I think two or three people burnt through the first floor, burnt through the second floor, and I think it burned through the third and we had the second floor, and we had Chief Bernie Mullins who had come there. He was from one oh three truck, great reputation, tremendous fireman, even a better chief. He

was one of the boys, says, you know what I mean. He was fantastic. So he was the chief on that second floor that we had. Eighty three is pushing. They can't hit nothing. Nobody's hitting anything right there. And I get up to the second floor and I pushed into the apartment and I'm in about two feet about ten feet, and I can't go in each further. I had no hood on. My ears were on fire, and I'm saying I got it, and Bernie is down the hallway no

mask. I had no mask, and he's yelling to me, Hold dad, you gotta get in there. He's yelling, you gotta get in. Nobody knew if I had gone and I'm not again, you have that hoods. But if I had gone another foot or two because my ears were covered, you went right down to the basement. And you're lucky we didn't lose any buddy. We lost people. In fact, one of the bedrooms just

went right down into the basement. It was Rescue three had come down and they spotted a brick and then spotted through it, and we realized the fire was full, fully involved on in the basement. And then we went outside and and you know did the next day punched hole through the brick wall. Then I had to go through the steel planes. But it was a tremendous fire. And if the hood, yeah, I got you a funny thing with the hood. My career is almost ending, and I'm going to go

back to the beach for a second, if you allow me. I worked seven years at the beach. My friend who I got a job at the beach becomes a Suffolk cop. He works about four years at the beach with me. We were the handulance drivers. And he calls it. He goes, did you ever get any time for working at the beach? I says, now, why? He said, well, I put in for it for the pinching bule. I filled out all these there's a lot of pain because you may get some time. So I fill the papers out. Months

go by and anyway, roll me. My captain calls me in and he goes. Sam Smallowitz is on the telephone. The Potomer call and I'm going come on, Cap. The captain and I were very close. So he goes, I said, Cap, come on, and he goes, no, smiler Witz is on the phone. So I pick up the phone. He goes Johnston. I said, yeah. He goes, well, kid, you hit a home run. I said, what are you talking about. At the time, I had just about twenty two years. He goes,

you're getting seven years back time. I worked seven years at the beach, but just summers, you know, July August through July onwards. I got seven years. He owed me like twenty five thousand dollars. I went from Tier one to the two back to Tier one. With the death game, it was like my captain is sitting there. Think. I used to tell my captain I don't have to study. I'm going to get a field promotion. Don't look that, I said, want. So he hangs up. I hang up the phone. I says, Cat. I used to

go in general. He would call me to colonel and I said, general field promotion. There it is. And with everything changing, the job changing, the messages got things like that. I said, you know what, I got thirty years, which back there was a lieutenants pay and I says, you know, it was a long time ago. Probably should have stayed, but I went. But Catt and Roby was one of the best cap We had a walk at off. He was one of the best officers.

He got mad at me twice in my whole career, and it wasn't really mad, but he got mad. And it was funny because I told you I hated to be a backup show for I don't want to back it. If I'm driving and you got a job, nobody's getting water. Nobody's getting water. It's up on the line. That's a I used to joke about that. So Patty Mack is retired, he was like, my hero, been through the war years, great shelf and you couldn't hear it. And he didn't know what the punk the pressure is at. I'm a volley.

I'm saying twenty pounds frinchy log, one hundred fifty Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it off? What do you pump out of? How do you kick me? What do you pop out? I think I just I just rub it up a little bit what he does. So and then he

told me, which I never should have listened to. We had a bunch of projects around this also, and he says, if the project is less than half the building, the fire is less than half, don't hook up the tape pressure coming downs, say, and we have twenty story projects, so ninth floor eight four seven, you don't have to hook up the head pressure. So we get a job on the backup Shoulfer right down the block or one of our twenty story projects. It was on the eighth and ninth

floor. I'm counting the floors. This is great. I'm not hooking up nothing. So I hooked nothing up. Nothing goes to the stand pipe and Captain Roby's the ports. He comes back, Hey, a good little job, puts the mask away, and he goes, hey, Colonel, I can get the host packs real quick. I go, what are you talking? I'm gonna tell you something, And this is the last time I'm gonna tell you. You're not Patty Mac. You'll look up for everything every time.

Right, you got a little man that another time, he's funny. We had an air mess down like it. We had the EMS down the block, and by this time, for a number of years, I do nothing, you know, yeah mess, I'm out of it. So we get this MS run and I'm the chauffeur, and don't know I was one on the back, but I was senior man. Joby goes in, the general goes in. I'm the last guy to go in the apartment. Someday. I sit down and I'm gonna read the back of the paper, see

what the sport's going on. And I'm reading the paper, I hear, Oh my god, I'm like, holy shoot, what the freaker is this? Next thing? You know? He a mess comes in and here comes Captain Roby with the boys. I go, what's going on? He goes, what's going on? Where were you? I said, I was reading the paper. He goes, well, we had a leper in the back there. We had a leper, which we never do. Skin all peeled

off. He had lepos. Oh my god, everything peeled off. So I go really, So we get back the corners before the engine backs in. I dive off the rig and I'm back by the slop sin where we had the antisept. I use the holy antiseptic and Pappain Roby comes back and he goes, what are you out of your mind? I said, what's the matter? He goes, there's nothing left? We were ready, I said, Yeah, but I read the guy's newspaper. Yeah, but I read his newspaper. He just looked at me. There was another sofa story,

and then if there and this was I I should have got. The bosses were so good we had they let everything flow. There was nothing that I used to tell little qunior guys. And you say, the bosses know nothing. It all goes through the senior guys. You don't go into the engine office and Dina, you want this done or a three way mutual. You're mad that everything goes through the senior men. You leave the boss.

So our bosses were all left alone. But we get a job. We pull out a clomb drive and show I pull out the project across the street at the seventh or eight floor. Guys hanging out the window and smoke is pouring over his head, and I'm like, oh my well, I used to lose my mind when this happens. So I get down the block first do Obviously I don't hook up. This was before Roby gave me the letter. I would have hooked up. I had. Lieutenant Cook was my boss.

Great guy I pull in and Jack Ryan was a senior guy in seventeenth Gray Vine great senior guy here had he had about thirty years on. So we had just had the roof rope with that big hook, you know, the belt and all that stuff and the rope so it weighs somebody. So I run over. In my head, this is a true story. In my head, I'm thinking I'm making a grab. I'm going out the wind back. So I grabbed the rope from him. I said, Jack, I'll take it up. So I run up. I was in pretty good

shape. Then I run up to the seventh or eighth floor, the floor above, and twenty nine's up there and the two biggest guys in twenty nine Dennis Trubert muscle band Bake Gorilla and guns On Ray Phillips like guys, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah right yeah. Hey. Ray was a great guy. He went to rescue threege. Yeah. So I pull up and I'm up there, and then they're gonna tie me off and lower me,

low me down, and I'm making the grab. I'm getting the grap So now they're figuring out how do you tie them the sitting I go, you guys are so big, just love me by I don't need to throw all around the belt and all that stuff. So they're taking out the child gates and I got a leg just about on the ledge. I'm going out the window when we hear from inside Lieutenant Kelly and I forget who the other guy

from seventeen got the guy out. They made a great grand got a metal, got the guy out, like him down and Lieutenant Cook is at the engine. He goes, you didn't hook up? So I said, no, do you have you have good pressure? Yeah? Yeah, we had good pressure. Where were you? I said, well, I don't know how to tell it, but he was such a really great guy. I said, I really don't know how to tell you this. He goes,

what do you mean you don't know how to tell me this? I said, well, I had one leg out the wind and I had to contract you wrapped around me. I don't even know for his slip bottom whatever? How do I write this off? If you did grant the guy that my agente chauffa the first two edges, you can't make this ship. But another thing old do we have? That? Is that the picture that we have Jim with those two guys, was that? Was that the picture? I

want to show the picture quick. I want to show the picture of what your son in the picture. That's a that's a great picture and I want to talk about Sorry, no, no, there it is, no, not that picture when he was younger. Oh the that's the little one. Okay, hold, let me get the ten years that was. That guy on the left was my captain, Captain Rody, great, great, great, great guy. And on the right was a tremendous fire and good friend, Jimmy Gilligan. He was one of the bigger guys in our truck,

and Robie was fairly big. And that's that picture. I think my son was twelve and we got a he rode with us, you know the guy. Back then you could ride a lot. So I was one of the few guys that brought this son in and that's probably why I wanted to be a fireman. Little after that, we had we used to get a lot of good car fires, you know, not that they're good, but every day because we had a commercial area where they ducked the cause and we get

a good car fly. We we had an inch booster reel on the back and I stretched this freaking thing off and Robbie goes, Colonel, what are you doing? I said, A car fire? What do you mean, what am I doing? You know, to the captain in general. So he goes, why is your son here? I said, it's just give the line to your son. And at twelve or thirteen he put out a fully involved car fly about it. We stood a little bit, you know, we didn't do it, you know when you're right up at the car.

But he put out a full car fire by himself, no help, all by himself, and it was great. Well, we loved my son and that was it. But I want to give one story if I could squeeze it in, because I hear you guys talking a lot about rescue, you know how they sometimes they take over. I know in Brooklyn, you know a different things. We had Rescue three. It was far away and by the time they got to us, we really had no interference with them.

And I liked a lot of the guys, Jerry Martha, they had a guy Joe Rooney, I believe, and a lot of conboys, a lot of good guys from rescue and Ray Phillips went up there. But we get this good job and we're four above the fire and it's Mike and I and we're putting this grou apartment out above the fire, and we're whacking this line around. We get it out, and Ralph Coppler was all lieutenant. He was like us. He wasn't really our boss, he was like us.

We socialized. He lived down the island. We do everything together. Well, he's in the fire, I'm in the fly. We get it all blocking down. We move out to the hallway, Mike and I. Coppla is still in there looking, you know, with the light, looking if there's any pockets of fire. Rescue is coming up, just against for the heck of it, and the ceiling collapses. And Coppler to begin with

was one of the ugliest lieutenants. I love them. So the ceiling now comes down and rescue is coming up, and they hear it and that, you know, and the good, great guy. But they're right away. We gotta collapse on the second or third floor wherever we will. And we got it all. So they yell out as anyone in the s y yelled back, yere lieutenant. So they're not on the radio. We got an officer trap. So I said to mic, I said, they're gonna they're

gonna barrel us over. And we knew Coppler and this is how funny we all are. And thank god was as Lucas I said. By rescue's not going in there. Coppler's getting out on his own. He doesn't need any help. He'll be out. So rescue comes to the door and they go, we got to get in there. There's a lieutenant Traps. So I look at the guy from rescue. I said, we're will aware there's a

Lieutenant Trapp. He's off bourse. He goes, well, we gotta get when he get him out of he goes, no, you know, give him a minute, he'll crawl out by And I cannot believe that you guys didn't make a move with your boss. And there weep in with him. A lot of times. He always want finds his way out, but it was just historical. He looks like he looks like he had some traumatic damage to his face. Now that's how he always looks. That's how he looks. He was banged up there. But it was just a great It was

just a great career. And oh, let's go through some of the picks quick. And then there was a couple of questions, let's go through all right, I'm just let's go I don't want to miss it. But we have something to Patty's party one first, Uh, way do I have that one? Don't have that? Oh? I got one quick story I gotta tell Yeah, great story. I'll try to go quick. Chief Chief Guancy, he guy Chief Gancy. Yeah, so let's show that picture. Showed a Gancy picture. A quick story. But you gotta hear this one.

That's a tremendous story. That's my wife a chief Guancy right, a volley bitter Okay. Prior to that, Uh, I heard it mentioned his nephew was on your show. I think recently, Angelo Catillana one twenty four truck and his nephew was a guest on one of your shows. And I can't think of his name now, but Angelo was a great guy, one twenty four, tremendous fireman. He was a big, big guy in the county. He was a commission in one of the volleys, and he started the

fire museum. And that's a county. So he's gonna have a big hoopy you for the opening of the fire museum. And we're having it at eyesa Ali Park. It's like a catering hole and we're all there and I'm there my wife and all the girlfriends, all the I'm a chief, all the chiefs provided with their wives, and a lot of the chiefs wise are there.

So I used to like to flirt with all the women. So I'm there and this is we're are all dressed for the tilt and all that, and I'm in heaven and I'm getting ready to go over to talk to this group. And Angelo grabs me and he goes, Jimmy, you gotta do me a favor. There's an invited guest at the party. He's a chief and department Pete Garson me and chiefs. You know, I respect, but I don't know. So he goes, could you go talk to him?

He really doesn't know anybody here, and he didn't, so Angela kind of drags me over, pulls me over, and he says, Chief, I want to introduce you to Jimmy Johnson. He's a chief in One to Rest also in sixty Engines. So I see Ancy and I go, hi, Chief, how are you doing? I said, And my first words were, listen, Chief, I don't want any favors I had about I don't know eighteen twenty whatever years and sixty is no favors I don't want to go anywhere. I'm just here to talk to you. And I said, I

really want to look at the women. He looks at me and he goes, yeah, yeah, they're really nice. I said, yeah, So well, let's chat for a few minutes and I'm out of here. I chat and I leave, and he turns out he sees power my wife. And I don't know anything going on. I'm talking to other people at the party and all listen chief Gancy and how I guess we're talking. I don't know nothing, but I know. The next thing I know is she doesn't feel good and she's got to go home. So I don't want to leave,

but I you know, she's really sick. So I said, let's get in the car. So we get in the car and were driving. As we're drive and she says, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I said it's all right. I said, you'll get I said, I'm that way every day. Were you're right, said it was fun. Well the list and she goes, yeah, but I threw up on your battalion chief shoes. So I said, my battalion chief. She goes, yeah, yeah, the chief that's there I threw up all over

the shoes. So it turns out she grows up on dances, because God bless it. Another guy that was at the thing was also He was a three thirty two engine. He met Dancy just briefly and introduced himself. He was getting promoted to lieutenant. The ceremony is two weeks from this incident. So he goes up and Dancing congratulates him and he says, tell that guy Johnson, he owes me a pair of shoes, and it was hysterical.

So that was my story with dancing. Then we went to a couple of dinners, Folly dinners he got invited to, and we just became very very good friends. And he liked my wife a lot. And we went to one game at the Colisee in the hockey game, and you don't they had, you know, sometimes they didn't quite get well. They had watching the game and Carol and I are pulling up to go to the one of the upper seating and we look over the ledge and is Chief Guancy and commissionerv Essen,

and I tell Carol about your boyfriends. He and by this time she had a nickname from love Pocket. So she yells over the balcony. Hey, love Pocket, I'll be right there, and love Pocket, where did this come from? And it was it was just a great chief dancing story. It was a fun story. But he had come to my firehouse. We had a guy, John Hannon, good kid, h tough kid, rugby player. He got killed in an accident on the way leaving the firehouse.

A tie on the Deagan a tire him off, a tractor trailer crushed the car and killed him. So a while later he had donated all his organs, and so a while later we had a big ceremony at the firehouse and with Giuliani, Chief Guancy was there, you know, and all the

dignitaries and the people who were the recipients of his organs were there. And in court if we pulled everything out, Captain Roby, General the generals, he's there, and Julianiti vons and we and I go right up to the General as a general permission to go below are basement and he goes, Colonel permission granted. So I get to wear it out. Everybody, you know in the submarine. We all go there and you know, we're hooting, hollering, and with that, my good friend now with Tondy, good fireman.

His wife was leaving, so he comes down. He says, once you say goodbye to Carol, because Carol's wife is and I were pretty close, very close. So I go up to the apparatus floor and then the oparatus is all out, and as I go up, I say goodbye to Al's wife. Him and Eddie were very good, fine and Billy Wells good guy. And as I say goodbye, Roby calls me over to general And why you call me over to this day? I'd love to ask him.

He knows I'm coming up from below ground up and there's the Chief and Deputy Chief de Bonado still on the apparatus floor talking to Roby. So parody Gancy says, you know you got Johnson here? He is he here movie? Because of course he's here. So they called me up. I said, salute Chief de Beronado. I salute Chief Guancy. We talked for a second, and Chief Guancy goes, I want to talk to you for a minute.

The mirror Chief. So he moves me over and there's our cast iron heater, stean heat with the pipe chase going right to the basement, and it was like a microphone. It was like it was like being in studio fifty four and he puts his arm around me and he goes, do you remember when we first met, I sugges I do, chief. He said, you said you never want to leave that company. Now I know why I wish I could join it, And that was I think that might have

been the last time I saw. Yeah, But by your questions, I've talked enough, I guess there was. There was a couple of there's the Trumper chump chomp chomp Trump. I was trying to find the same Patti as they want. I don't have one as Mark Saint Patters. So there was some questions that people paid for. Yeah, I uh, I'll go back to those now and then we'll do the old school tip. The we already answered this one is if you work with John, how do you say that

r W Yes, good guy, very good guy. I had the stupid and the only other comment that was that was Trucky. He was asking Trucky one one seven, I don't know if you want to talk about this, but he's can read that, Okay, you want me to read it to you? That allegedly, so moving on, No, there was another one if he asked if he worked with there was wasn't that somebody else? They wanted to bill this one. Somebody wanted to say hello, Carl Housler.

Heuser says hello, he's watching with Audie Workle Workle. Yeah. That one. Yeah. And then they were Billy Larson stories, Billy Larson stories, Billy Lowson stories. Who is one of the best fire Me and him and I were like brothers. He was in d C. Went back to with very slow. That's the same guy you were talking about. And I got him to sixty and then he went to seventeen. One of the best firefighters. But I can't tell Billy stories. They were enough. Said I'll give

you just a fun not a story. But Billy used to carry a pencil in his in his potautiful pocket. And one of the new guys comes in. He goes, yeah, I met, I met. Billy had a little guy tremendous, tremendous. He didn't wear a mask. I had it on, but seldom put it on. You should should wear a mask, so I want to say that, But Billy didn't wear him. He wore a bandanna that was his Scott pack. He didn't weigh anything. He wrapped it around. Little guy he carried this pencil and I won't tell it,

but I'll leave it for the imagination. And one of the ProBiS goes to Pete Ziska's great Fireman, the metal Guy. Pete was straight out good guy, good show for tremendous firemen. And he goes, hey, mister Dolziskus, what what is the little guy Billy? Where had that pencil? Is he like a construction worker and he goes, no, it's the star as coffee that there were a hundred billis that was a Billy story. But this

look, Billy was a great, great guy, great fireman. Uh. One day he drove the rig back we were in andel was eating the truck went out for some stupid day. We come back, the quarters is covered. It was like it smelled like five hundred pots burning on the stall. Now throws closed up. Everything closed up. Billy decided he's going to take the run in without releasing the Maxie break and wondered why the Oh he got back all you saw you also, and uh, I think his pencil was

Billy. Yeah, Billy lost A great guy got him there. He took d C and we we were volleys together. Father, his father was captain of me and the violence. Yeah, great guy. He always with the musk long mustache. And we got the We got the you guys will remember. We started with the rabbit tool and then we went to the hydro ram and Billy was a little guy but very strong. Like you know, you had the mask on, you had the hook on, you had this on

it. We go to a good flyer. Billy had to go to the top floor and fortunately he said he looked, but I don't think he looked. He threw the rabbit tool out the window and he says, what did what did we seventeen drop? We got to carry this thing fifty five trucks from the rabbit one hand carry the rabbit tool. So he tossed the rabbit the hydro ram. Yeah. Yeah, the rabbit tool was heavy. Man, that was heavy. But Billy, a little billy. We lug all

this stuff up and he was tremendous elevator guy. We called the Motus elevator. He could open a stuck elevator in two seconds. That's a Billy story. Yes, well, don't forget. If you want to really quick, you want to talk about your son well, yes, for another show. I'll tell you what he did good on the test got called and I had a good friend and a gray fie and Mike Waters. I got him to

sixty engine. He was bouncing around at Brooklyn. He was from Hunts Point and I got I begged and begged and begged, and finally the haptain said, ah, and I'll bring Waters here, and he bought Mike there. And Mike knew everybody on the job. Union guy. He could tell stories a mile a minute. I don't know if he'd come on to Showman. He's tremendous story guy. And we get him and he knew all the union guys and he was part of the you I forget what he was, a

rep for the the title whatever he was. And I said, I want my sons getting on. I always loved I loved who I were, but I loved hallm too. And he was still more occupied and busier than sixty when my son got on in two thousand and seven. And I said, all I ask is scouted out. I want senior offices. I don't want five year guys. I don't want six year guys. I want him to go. You know, I started to worry. I know what I went through and close calls. So he said, fifty nine engines for you ej

ten. He was up there, Jimmy McClusky, tremendous guy. He was a lieutenant up there. Yeah, yeah at Cleary, Nick Nick, Nick Nicole, good recovery man. All those guys were there. So I had pulled through Mike Waters and he got him there. And then when he got promoted, Joe Brosie I had broken into he ran. He was running flips at the time. And Jimmy Hodgens, not Chief Hodgens. It was a Jimmy Hodgens that was my captain for a while seventeen. Good fire and solid

guy. He put up with that nonsense. We called him the dentist because he drilled day and night. He was. He was on the stage when my son got promoted and came to me. He goes, Jimmy, wherever you want him to go. But Joe Brosie pulled some strings and stuff like that, so he covered. You know, he's a lieutenant two eighty nine. He's maybe a year a little more away in the captain captain. Good for him, yeah, good, fine and good for him. And he got a good fatal. He made a great grab. He worked in a

truck, you know how luck goes. He didn't work off anyone three eight and he works at one three eight. They get a private dwelling, but it's one of those private dwellings in Corona where you had. They had twenty two people in. Yeah, a lot of people always and most of them were all trapped. And he went above and uh, does he ever do this? Do you ever hear him do this? Really? The old block?

You know who was there? I don't know if you know the name, but he was a happy He was Tom Neary, who just asked. Yeah, Tom Neary was a legend on the job and he was thirty eight for a little bit. But yeah, he loves it there. And when you're selling to the floor above. He wasn't the first two show for was he by any chance? Cool? So I got to teach you guys what I know. You can start now because it's time for your old school tip of the day pages. Yeah, I told you were gonna say. He

already sad at the beginning. He wants to come back for a part three, so he's already going themself all lines up, dude, I love it. We can do a part two. Well, I just got to say one quick thing, not a story. But I had moved to Myrtle Beach and a bunch of my engine company was standing. We all moved down within blocks of each other. And I had Chris Murphy, who was my good

friend. He lived right next door to me. He was in in sixty with me, Mike Waters, my boss, Sadie McCallan, Alt Tundee, Paul Big Paul Quirk is a real good storyteller from forty twenty seven Truck, I mean a big guy and a funny, funny guy with stories. Jimmy Ryan was from two twenty seven. I met a lot of the guys, a lot of guys I worked with the sixty. We all moved together, and then I met these guys from twenty seven, Ken Big, Ken a

Begbie, and Pete Clifford from forty four. All great guys. They're still down. Good that you guys are all together like that left I guess I was. But yeah, and you know what, this is the first time I told stories because these guys all heard my stories. It was always in a bar. After about fourteen fifteen beers, I would get these stories and they loved them. I think he had yeah, Timmy, Timmy, I think it's I met him down there and a lot of guys, Bobby Joy

and a lot of guys, great firemen, great stories. But they used to tolerate my stories. So it's kind of funny. And I hope I think most of them are watching. You'll probably called me after this and say, shut your mouth. Good stuff there, good stuff. But the tip of the day, yeah, right now, there we go, Hime for tip of the day. Day. All right, all right, can't take you wait, Okay, first, I'm going to just give a personal tip

for the day, and I was talking to coops about it before. Guys that are on the job, even if you're on the job, and especially if you're retire, be an advocate for your own health because there's a lot of times nobody else is looking down for you. I had some serious health problems and I went to instead of going to something else, I wound up going to do hospital. Go to the best, think of yourself and your family, and be your own advocate. Go out of the park if you

have to look for a good doctor or a good hospital. So that's my personal tip of the day. The other tip fire matter tip of the day is obviously what you guys said, stay low, let it blow. But if you get into a company, pick pick the brains of the senior men. Not only do you want to hear their good stories and you know things of that line, but you want to hear the tradition of the fire house.

You want to know what the firehouse you're in is all about. And there's nothing better than to Just when I got on, I picked the brains of Patty mc andrews, Tommy Mahoney, all these senior guys you know by Dolly, John h Jimmy Brown, all Bill Lotta, all these guys. And now you got young guys in seventeen like Steve Pitt's and Tommy Frank, guys like that. That's still run, Tommy Martin, they still run all the ceremonies we've had and kept the tradition alive. Lieutendant to Salve O guys

like that. So keep your tradition alive. And the only way you can keep it alive is by picking the brains and the senior guys not only fire stories, but find out what what the what your particular house is all about. And that's that's my two tips of the day. Three tips of the day. We wait. The old school tip of the day is brought to you by what God, Oh, he's gonna be brought to you by The FD Collectors Club is a monthly subscription service that delivers fire department patches and challenge

coins. No more stopping by a firehouse just to find out they're out on a call. Start and grow your collection today. Great dude, he's a good dude. He's in squad one. That guy right rough Tom, he's the burn box guy. Yes, he's he's in a squad Yeah, great guy, So go over there and check it out. Challenge coins pass. He's got a lot of stuff going on, that guy. Huh. He's a busy dude. Man. But we also also we have to do the

health and safety tip of the day. We say, oh, goodbyes, stand by, Jim hold up. The First Responders Center for Excellence is a not for profit organization dedicated to protecting the lives and livelihoods of first responders. Their education and research initiatives aim to bring greater awareness and understanding the challenges to the health, safety, and well being of firefighters EMS personnel and other first

responders too. They are an affiliate of the National Fallen Firefighter Foundations. I'm going to give you three tonight. Get ready. So diesel is a known cast ynogen. Use exhaust capture systems in the firehouses to reduce exposure to diesel exhaust teams. Thank god. Healthy lifestyle choices are important for firefighters health and fitness. Maintain a healthy diet, rich and fruits, vegetables and whole grains. And also, you know this is my pet peeve exercise regularly to promote

overall health and fitness. Like the Chief said, Like the Chief Hello, Like Jimmy said. You know, you have to have a stake in your own health, man, you have to be an advocate for your own health. Yep, we got this on again. Great stories man. I appreciate it. You could see, uh you know, I like you know you get You're wearing it right on the sleeve. Brother, you know what I mean. It's uh good stuff. Loved the job. Loved it. You could tell you never told us how you have the name hol Daddy. Yeah,

I'm still I know what it is. It's it's a surfer thing. It was one thousand bucks. You didn't come up with that. Yeah, that's a bad full of ship. Yes, maybe you do know what. Yeah, I used to do the whole act in the in the late sixties with the jams. That's with the bathing suits and the surfboard and all that. And Billy lost to the guy, the little guy. He was surf and I plant my board in but I didn't know how to surf. So I sit there talking at the women and saying I'm a surfer, and Billy

turned around says, you know what you are. You're a whole daddy. When I got him over to sixty and seventeen, that stuck. Yeah, the game of pretty women in this man, Broffy. Have you noticed that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like it to look at too. Good. Absolutely, all right, guys, thanks for tuning in. Any shout outs, Ruffy, No, we got I've got some good people coming up Monday. Monday, we have Chief John Newell coming on. Oh that's Jimmy's golf partner day a day. Nice, all right, guys, thanks

again for watching tuning in. I think we had over one hundred lights tonight right us. All last two was keeping me up. Go share with friends, bro Share the podcast we need to grow it and then I get your orders in for Christmas. I don't want to be sitting at that engraving table. Now I'm out and uh, that's it until Monday. Stay long, go all right, Jim, thanks again. We'll see it the big one everybody. All right, guys, have you good night,