GETTIN' SALTY EXPERIENCE PODCAST Ep.229: FDNY CAPTAIN TIM GRANT

Disclaimer. We'd like to know before the start of this interview that the opinions about to be expressed by the guest of tonight's Getting Salty Experience Podcast are that of the guest and do not directly or necessarily reflect the views of the host of the Getting Salty Experience Podcast.

You're listening to the Getting Salty Experience Podcast.

Hello, Hello, twenty one truck teleman joining us in the chat again tonight. The little guy gotten missed it for a while, Now he's back. Welcome back to the Getting Salty Experience Podcast. You only want to bring to the fire house kitchen table to you. Ruffy's got the grizzly Adams.

Look going on. Bro Gonzos ten, me too.

Just came back from Mexico. Baby, Yeah, straight face on the beach.

Straight what to you putting?

Yeah, well you got your picture. I'm not too uh, I'm not a barrass of this, but you know, at one point I did black out on a beach chair and uh, first, as you can see, first you put it in my mouth, then it was on my shoulder, then he stuck it in my nose, and then you put it on my I never felt the thing. Bro out for two hours, woke up there was nobody there.

Oblivious when you go for the colonsay, that's that's how you felt, right, Oh yeah.

Yep, what we've done already woast Yeah.

My daughter says, Dad, is that straight vacua in that gliss? I'm like, yep, And that's the last thing I remember that was it? Good times? But you know when you're away your son and your daughter and they can drink now and you can do that bonding time, bro, you know, and the little guys and the.

Pull alcohol and family, it's always good.

Always good. My sister came with kaids good time, good time to be had by all.

Yeah?

Is it me?

Or is?

When Mikey's reading that disclaimer, he sounds like he's just like exhausted almost like when he's reading.

It he's busy again. Man, you know, he's very He's.

Like, he's like the thoughts and of of our guests are not of that getting this all the experience.

And maybe he was, you know up late, you know what I'm saying. Where was he? He wasn't in it. He wasn't in the pre show tonight. Where is he tonight?

No? No, he's been on the hiatus, as he says, he's he's on hiatus now. I don't know what he's doing right now.

He's in the three four corner doing something, you know, overhaul or something.

Right, isn't he doing? Is he on the driver? Nah?

Not yet. He didn't go on the academy yet.

Nope, he's still waking.

How was your cruise? Guns?

It was actually it was actually pretty good. My wife gets some feedback now on the face book, and a bunch of people got COVID. So think I didn't.

I mean throat is that still around Trump's at office? COVID?

I'll still think? Yeah, but all all is good? I mean one of these guys, one of the guys will joined me.

He went on the upside down Pineapple cruise, right, that's where.

On every cruise. That's the sign.

He's Did you get the JAB?

No, I don't mean that jab.

I mean.

COVID shot.

No, No, that's what he meant. I met the other jab. Oh you know what I mean? You know, you.

Know there's always a little something like hey, you know, we gotta be careful because they can hear you next door.

Who cares?

All?

Right?

Quiet, It's a place of commercials. We have to get the cap kept you tolling in here? Yes, I mean so rough is uh. He officially got his fifteen point I told him today the rest of his gravy, bro he's going to Illinois or whatever like. He let him pass him right up. You know, if he gets a little tire and his I will lump in his throat and he doesn't want to kill somebody, I'll let this one go.

You know, was a buddy of mine. What's hot dogs?

So I gotta I gotta, oh Brown, If you don't have enough, you better kill something else because I need some hot hot dogs.

I got you all right?

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Nice. He was selling the ship out of those things at the trade show we went to. Brother went an Actually a good job. They make your helmet fits like like you were saying that the old ones. Yeah, I don't know. Were you related the nafe that autist Skolotski. Didn't you just say that other thing? Famous artist Skolotski. I'm telling you he just said.

I thought he said his name was Hal. How'd you like a kick?

Did he?

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You asked me what the frist coefficient? Well here it is coefficient. Didn't I tell you to edit that part out?

Yes? I was.

By the way, the guys from Capitol Helmet. That guy has his own towel Procachine around Procaccino was driving that thing like he stole it.

Broy call him up. Tell him you code salty. You want to ride to your next U dinner with your wife?

Yeah, listen with Vince too. Did you see the logos free? You get it? You get it in your fire house. He gives you all the logos on the floor for free. That's right, fireman's favorite word. Free. All right, let's go if you bring the man in here?

All right?

You ready?

Guns, Yes, let's do this.

All right?

Coming to the stage, our longtime friend F D n Y Captain Timmy Grant.

Well, what are you sipping on over there? Cape cap? What do you got there? What are you sipping on?

I can't hear you. Oh that's a little bourbon, that's a little.

Burb What you got?

I got a little red breast robin redbreast Irish whiskey from my Irish friend.

That's not because they've been smacked around a little bit.

But I'm six, I'm out. I'm going through with girls right now. I can't drink another thing. I swear. I thought about it when he raised that glass before the captain like, oh man, that was good.

I can't do it. I got more poison in my body than you.

Yeah, shaking, Let's get patriotic before you dive into the captain's career.

There we go.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the report public, for which it stands One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And there you go. So before we get started with the captain's career, I'm gonna throw this out to the chat. I want them to play detective tonight and maybe they can take two things and figure out how they go together. I'm not going to say, but the first one in the chat to say, maybe how Captain Grant maybe got some places that he got. You put the two things together and you say it up out of the chat, and we'll send you some free stickers that you got. No,

Thanks for coming on, Thank you, thank you.

Let's uh, let's go back to the early days of the Grants. Where are you, where you're born, where you're from? What's the family like family life back then?

Well, Uh, my father claims that the whole planet is originally from the Bronx. I'm sure there's a lot of Brooklyn people that would think differently. But I was actually born in Manhattan. My mother lived in the Bronx. But then right after I was born, we moved up to Carmel. So I grew up in Carmel, New York. It's about an hour north of the city. I think a lot of you guys know Carmel. Some people say Carmel, but people that live in Carmel say Carmel.

Carmel. Yeah, Carmel is that close to you.

But he went to school with Yo, it's my cousin Yrdies.

Oh right, yeah. We went to Jamie Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jamie was closer to my age, and then I think Mike was maybe two.

Or three, a couple of years old.

Yeah, yeah, yep, yep. We figured that out one day when we were sitting there bs and right, yes, yeah, yeah, So your father was from the Bronx then, yeah, parents, Well, well, my whole family is originally from the Bronx. I mean before Ireland originally, but then everybody was in the Bronx. And but uh yeah, I went to Carmel High School.

Family, brothers and sisters.

I have one. I got one brother who's on the job. He's he's still working. He's he's a little bit younger. He's five years younger than me. He was in forty seven forty seven engine, then he went to one thirteen trucks as a lieutenant. Now he's in the Marine division. Now whole family.

Was data fireman, no nor fire department.

I knew nothing about the fire far I mean, absolutely zero about the fire debarm. When I when I was in high school, my friend Vinnie came into school with all the applications for everybody, you know, and there was like twelve of us that went down and took the test together. And uh, you know, if you look back in time, now was I was the only one that took the fire department. Vinnie became a Putnam County Sheriff, and I was the only guy that became a farreman. But I knew, I mean, and when I was in

Entire I think our our careers I was when he sent me his timeline. Our career is pretty mirrored. Like he got on just I think he got on the class after me.

He got on. I got out.

Did you have Kiaren Browsan in your class?

Yes, Karen sat next to me. He was the three truck. Yes, I remember that seventy five. Yeah he was, he was the seventy five with me.

Yeah, he sat right next to me. Good friend of mine.

How did he get the thirty three truck?

Just you know, we don't know anything. We don't know that, we.

Don't know that.

Remember that, I've never done this before.

Yeah, so did that have a broken everything? Was he right from Ireland?

That?

Did your dad speak with a Brogan every?

No?

No, no, no, my dad's not from Ireland. No, his his parents from Ireland, all right, both to his parents. So I'm actually in the process of getting my Irish citizenship now because.

All the time, I mean since I know him, he's been going Uh really yeah, I.

Go along a part of Ireland.

I go all over Ireland. I mean I have to. I'll text text you a picture. Well I had just had a just did up a whole map of all the pubs I've been to and uh, my last trip, I just celebrated one hundred and fiftieth pub in Ireland.

Crap, that's some pub crawl, man.

You always you always get a Guinness, you always get at it.

There, Tim, you always get a guinness when you go there.

Oh yeah, so much better over there. It really does. I don't know if it's in my head or what, but it does so good when it touches your lips. If any of my Irish buddies are listening on this, they're gonna be a saying, of course it's better. Of course it's better, exactly alright.

So ninety three, what were you doing before you got on the job.

Uh So, right after high school I went to I went to Courtland. Uh for five years. I finally got out. That's like jail. No, that was not jail. That was not jail. I love. So I went to Courtland. And then after Courtland, uh, me and a bunch of guys went out to the Hampton's for the summer. I got a house out there. As soon as the summer was over, I went out to Vail to ski for the winter. And and while I was out there, they I got

Yeah, five ye, fifty million times, fifty bun times.

So so just as a as a you know, prior to me even getting on a fire depart when I was in high school, we used to we used to go to these this trestle by a reservoir and we jump, you know, in the summertime, we would jump off into the water and you know, you used to have to climb up really high. And one of these psychological questions was do you like to jump from places? I'm reading this like, all right, I'm going to be a fireman, and they're asking me I'm afraid of heights, Like that's

So they met on the concrete like from a fifty story building.

Off yourself.

So I get called back for a second psychologist then calling back and they're like, so you like to jump from my places? I had to explain that, you know what what I uh, I used to do because we used to do that a lot because right by where I lived, it was, you know, it was you had to you had uh, lakes that had big heights, diving rocks that you could jump off of. So we were always doing that growing up as kids. So I took the question the wrong way.

You read into the question.

First learning thing and taking a fire Department test.

Flying to anybody. Any notables in your Probo class with you?

Uh?

Yeah, I had. I had Bronco. It was Bronco. Uh, Maddie Long, Uh, Jimmy Brosie. Jimmy Brosi was my Uh. We shared the locker right next to you. The only thing I remember about Proby School, and this is no joke. I don't remember anything about Brob School. I remember is laughing. All I did was laugh and and Jimmy Brosie made me laugh constantly. That guy was so funny.

Uh. The soccer mono out there when you were there.

Yeah, but Junkin was my favorite guy out there.

Nick Junkin.

Yeah, he was freaking awesome.

He was great. The little guys, Yeah, he was good.

He was great.

Uh. I'm trying to think who else from my Proby class. Uh, you know, Mike Caine, Chris Jensen, Chris Burreck. Uh, those are the guys that I kept in touch with over the is.

So you're going there, you know absolutely nothing, And they picked that out right.

Away, like I knew nothing. I knew, I knew nothing. But you know, you just you just close your mouth and you know, right, all.

Right, So here comes to I knew was gont.

Go ahead? Go ahead?

How in God's name for a guy who knows nothing? Who his friend Vinnie gave him a cheat sheet? Goes to seventy five engine at a Proby school.

Forget about it. My father worked My father had a friend of his that worked out at the gym with Mike Everett, and I gotta.

Mike Everett was the connection, one of my favorite guys, cat memory.

And and you know what it's it's the way it worked out. I went, I went to seventy five and he was in thirty three. Uh. He got promoted a couple of years after I was there, and then we worked together back in forty one. I was a lieutenant there he was, he was captain.

What a guy?

Didn't you go to forty four to though?

Like I was the best story ever, that was the best story ever. He's like, I was beating thirty three, and then he's like, where I would kill people when I was at thirty three with thirty three or nothing.

Then I get promoted.

I go over to forty four, which was the arch enemy, right, and now I'll run thirty three off the road.

Right.

It's like the best.

Oh, it's the best story ever. Yeah, it's so true.

Wherever you're at, and you know, you know Shakey Kevin o'han he's in the pipe band. He I think he used to drive ever Crazy Ever called. I think Everyett was working in the engine one day. I might have this story wrong, but I think he was working in the engine one day and they needed the suction. Uh you know it was an EMS run and they needed the suction and Kevin walked up with the suction. I might have that story. He's going his mouth, this is the stuff I forget.

So you get over to seventy five.

What was it like walking in at a first day?

You know what, I'll remember, I'm coming out of Provy school, you last day, and you're going to visit the firehouse for the first time. And I remember coming down, I remember driving down the concourse, and I knew that area of the Bronx because that's where my grandmother lived. So I'm driving down the concourse and seventy five engineers going the opposite way, flying on a run, and I see the American flag flying behind the rig, and it just I was like, wow, that's where I'm working. I know,

I remember when I was at Once seventeen. I remember when we put that rig on. We had two little ones that were on the handholds in the back, and I remember every time you would come back, like one would you know, over time, a couple of weeks, it would fall, you know, get ripped or something, and we would put new ones on there all the time after that.

I remember, I loved it, man, I mean, it was the first time I ever seeing seventy five. I don't know, but I don't even know where I'm going, you know, I'm driving. We didn't have GPS back then, Like okay, one hundred and eighty third Street, I make it right here, you know. I never went south to briggs Am, and you know that's where where my grandmother lived.

They just recently had that again when they forced the companies to take that off the rate like with.

I don't know if that was true.

It was the blue line flag, I think or something, and it was oh yeah, yeah, sumptionnantis.

I don't know if that was entirely true.

The post had in the newspaper.

Yeah, I don't know if that was entirely.

Right. So you walk in the firehouse and who was there? Who the first guy?

Well, so another guy from my probay class was Jay Walsh, and we both went to seventy five. There was two of us that went to seventy five. And he knew. Jay knew a lot more about the job than I did. He was a fireman, he was a I think he was a lieutenant. He might he might have been. I don't know if he was a lieutenant. But he worked in Connecticut and he and he came to New York. He was a big buffy. Used to ride with Rescue three or you know, I guess years ago. I never

Both in it.

What's that?

No? I Thinklewin Coops were both in it.

So we went We went to seventy five together and we were mutual partners, you know, because we were both probi's and I don't you know Kieran went there that Kieran went to pro school with you. But I think you know, between Kieran and me and Jay, it was like the first probes that went there in a while, if I remember correctly. You know they all went to the engine. What's that they all went to the engine? Yeah, yeah, there was there. There was three of us there. You know,

Are you in this picture second from the left, yeah, second from the left, oh ship right?

Yeah? Yeah, And that's Tony Kremik there, he was a proby. There that's me and Matt Hanson, Dave O'Donell, Tony Ventrella and Burger.

How long did it take.

Burger. Let me tell you something, man, is you know, the job had lots of guys that could break balls. That guy was like a master. And I you know, being in the bank pipe in it was guys there too. We'll get to that. But you know, in my career, I definitely had the pleasure of being around the guys who were so good at breaking balls. And it's just, you know, whether it was or anybody else, you you weren't hanging out if you had thin skin with these people, you know, but it was uh and.

That's legit, like you could say that, but that's like legit, like you were not hanging out with some of these guys if you a lot of kitchens.

Oh yeah, yeah, I don't think. I think it's just different today.

I honestly, you know, you hate to say, oh yeah today, you know, you know when I was on, but there's no comparison. I don't think to how the kitchen was then to to you know, and forget.

About different, all different. You know, it's so many things.

A lot more ship than you can't you can now.

Obviously, so many things are different now. But you know, listen, you know guys are always saying, oh change you know, everything is changing no matter where you're at at any point in time. You know, I came up, we came on ninety three, right, think about like we were. We were doing really good with fires. But every single person that you met there, that you know, that was there ten years before that, they're like, so you should have been here ten years ago.

Yeah you're late, Yeah exactly.

You know, so you get used to what you have and everything isative, man, everything is relative. I said, don't be afraid of the change. It happens. You know, hopefully it's going to change slow, but you got to realize change happens.

Yeah. But for the normal people, they don't really they can't grasp what it's like to be at the kitchen table, man, of what they just don't get it.

It's yeah, yeah, yeah. I know a couple of guys you know that have said told their wives a couple of things, and they they just don't get that. What do you so funny about that house?

You know?

When I was in college, you know, I played rugby in college and there was a thing we had cold spoon fights, and you know it's it's it's a pretty good gimmick, you know, like everybody's in on the joke except for the one guy that's not in on a joke. And so I kind of brought that into the bagpipe man. And I remember we did it too, Uh we were we were out in Dallas. I'm kind of jumping ahead here, but it's.

All right, we'll get back to it.

We're in Dallas for the Dallas Giant game and we have a big tailgate and we end up doing this spoon fight things and it's Mike mcpoulland's son, Mike mcpoland, who's in forty four truck. So it's it's two guys. It's it's the spoon fight champion who I was the champion And everybody knows, you know who the champion is. The guy who doesn't, Mike mcpon knows nothing about it.

Oh, but then he has to do it to you, right, to me, He has to put the spoon in his mouth and hit you on the head.

And then turned around.

And every time he hits me, I go, ah, oh, a man, that hurts.

You know, uh, I've never heard of that.

If you are, it is on YouTube, if you I think, if you look up, yeah, yeah, you know, I doubt you.

Watch the guys kept You put the like a woodspoon and you go and you know, you can only do it, like you said, it's only somebody.

But I had a little gimmick. I had a little I used to have. It was it was actually a piece of cancer that they took off eventually, but I had this bump on the top of my head and I would I would know sometimes if that spoon came in the right way, it could cut. It could cut that thing. So I would make it bleed. And now I'm like, I'm like, holy shit, this guy's good. You know, he's making me bleed. And everybody's going you got you got Tommy killing in the background, taking he's taking bets.

They got.

The bare knuckle fight.

The only person that does not know what's going on is the the.

Guy.

Yeah.

So it's it's pretty funny, man. But but going back to why I brought that up is, you know, there's like some guys have said to their wives or or I don't understand, how is that funny?

Yeah, they don't get it. Clown as if you walked into one twenty fourth kits the first thing you did was cover your nuts.

Uh what a guy.

When you first got there, it stuck out to you a lot, like who are you.

Working in seventy five and thirty three?

Yeah?

Uh you know, Louis, I really I can say this honestly, everybody, everybody stuck out, everybody had I loved working there. I was. It was such a as they say in Ireland, it was a it was brilliant. It was a brilliant brilliant No, it was it was absolutely You know, you have a guy like Burger who who controls the tempo. I'm not saying only him is everybody had their their place, you know, and you had the guy that really put the hammer down when it needed to be put down. But you

Every I was gonna ask you to go back.

Yeah, yeah, First the first since I've been in the company, the first Friday of every December is our is our reunion. And you get anywhere from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty guys that show up, And that tells you something right there, right addition, right then, but the guys, you know, the officer, Brian Coverage, for one.

You know, I put my paper for thirty three truck.

Did you know that that's gonna blurt that out?

Real? I guess, I guess I went to see I guess it was before you knew.

Yeah, I went to see Captain Finnemore twice.

Actually what makes to call him fun no more or something like yeah no more?

Yeah, but uh, and then the squad thing came up, so I went with that. With that, otherwise I think I would have probably went.

I went to the truck at some point.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So actually, so when I was studying for lieutenant, I started studying. I guess you know that was when when was our lieutenant's test? That was in ninety seven, ninety seven. So so I'm studying in ninety six, we get we get on the job in ninety three. Now I'm studying for lieutenant ninety six. I had a great study group, but it was run by Billy McGinn. Billy McGinn was uh he was a lieutenant forty eight engine and he was studying for captain. So he ran

So you spent the quite a while in the engine. H seventy years in the engine.

How was Eddy g Man? How was the Z Man over there?

Man?

He was absolutely.

Back then he was he was even notudler than he is now. He was nuts man, he was nuts. I was doing uh, I think I was doing my thirty day detail. Either it was my I think we did a thirty or sixty day detail in the Yeah, thirty day detail. And we were up on the Grand Concourse and the officer was, uh, Jimmy Gill, you know, and some some firemen rub officers, you know, they could they could rub the rub them the wrong way sometimes. And Z Man used to get under Jimmy Gills, uh, under

Gods, that didn't happen in f l A is it?

Oh?

Hell no?

And we pulled up, and we pulled up. There was like a carnival going on, and he's also getting on the first wheel that you know, and it's in the middle of it's in the middle of there's like two h type buildings right next to each other, the first wheels right in the middle. And so you're going up and like you could look in windows and there's people like looking out and z Man, you know, just because he's he's the z Man.

I love him.

I love him, but he's he. It's me and him in the car and every time the first we love he's screaming at the top of his lungs, like like he's scared, you know, he's not. He's screaming at the top of his lungs. And all these people, all the all these people are out at the windows like what's God, that's awesome, so funny, that was great.

I said, before you went to the truck door. You got in the band, Yeah, in ninety five, Yeah, I got in the band.

Really, so I couldn't. I couldn't learn while I was on probation. So right after I came out of probation, I bought my chanter and I started. I got a private instructor and and you know, I put, I really like practiced a lot, and I got in the band. Pretty cool. I was in the I bought my chanter in August, and I my audition was in January. That January.

Is that how it worked? You auditioned for the band?

And yeah, it usually takes It can take anywhere from you know, it could take a year, two years, some people, some people more, but I did. I did start learning the chanter when I was a kid, so that kind of helped a little bit. But once you discovered girls, it wasn't a chance. I wasn't playing the chanter anymore.

So did you always know that you wanted to be in a bando since you got on.

I always liked the bagpipes. I remember, even when I was in college, I had an artist draw a leprechaun playing the bagpipes and I was gonna get it on my leg, but I ended up not getting it. But I always liked the bagpipes and my growing up, my father had the original record of the Bagpipe Band and he used to play it all the time with his Irish music on a Friday night, and so I kind of knew all of the songs in my head. I got a private instructor. He says, all right, what song

What what's it like like being in that?

Like, first you're in the FDNY, for God's sakes, right, and and like you said, the pride that comes along with that and that.

Whole Anthony right, it's like incredible.

And then to be in the pipe band in the Emeralds, you know, the Emerald Society pipe band in the FDNY, and then starting to do parades and doing that ship.

I mean, he's dreaming as a Talian dude.

But I used to see the fucking pipe band coming no matter where I was, if it was unfortunately at a funeral, if it was at Saint Patti's day, if it was the fucking pipes were coming.

Bro.

My hash stands up and that's how it's just a prideful.

Thing, right.

So yeah, it has to be incredible for you to watch people looking at you with that pride, right.

I mean, it's got me.

It's kind of what got me to do it. You know. The first time I saw Jimmy Corker and marching into one of our I don't know if it was a Memorial Day or a. I think it was Memorial Day, it probably was. It was probably when we came on and I went to seventy five in October of ninety three after graduating Provy School.

That first then.

That would that would have been that would have been the first Metal Day Memorial Day that I would have went.

Because he passed away to following you, right, he.

Passed away in March of ninety five. All right, so it's been a year.

Yea.

So my actually my first parade in Saint Patrick's State Parade was his last. He died in my first parade. It's tradition for us to bring a bottle of whiskey, you know, to celebrate your you know, coming into the band. We always do that, and all my whiskey we were we were toasting to Jimmy because he died at the end of the parade.

I remember I was at the what was that at the Armory, right or something like that.

Yeah, we used to have the Yeah, we used to have our party at the Armory. And uh, you know when we got back to the armory after the parade, because he had passed away on the platform of the subway station, you know, before coming making his way down to the.

Trying And I remember hearing all that when we were but.

Anyway he was. It was when it was seeing him marching in with the band. Uh that Otober and then and I said, I gotta do this. That that was kind of what set that ball of motion. And then I see Bronco. You know, I'm friends with Bronco. We went to prov school together. I see him. Bronco was a drummer, and he was already in the band because by Metal Day, by the following July, which is the time we just came off probation, right, Wait, is medal

Oh my god, that's so those guys are so tight.

That's how I felt in the band. So now like, oh, I'm overwhelmed with freaking greatness. I mean, the people, the guys, you know, just Geene Freyer, Jean Jean Freyer was you know I speak about I speak very highly of Burger and you know his ball breaking ability and everything. Jeane Freyer. I'll go on the record right now, is I know there's a lot of funny men on the fire. I

What company was he from?

Well?

Was I know, like I remember, I know that he was an eighty one engine a long long time ago, but then he retired as a fire marshal. He was a fire marshal when he retell. He was a lot older. He's passed. He died just before nine to eleven, like months before nine to eleven. Wow. But he you know, when I came in the band, there was a certain group of guys that he took under his wing. And I talk about being proud again, I mean he it

But it wasn't just him. It was I mean, you had I mean, just who was the guy who was the crazy guy Coobs, I had the tattoo mctigue.

That's Tommy mctigue. Tommy mctigue. So Tommy mctigue's son, Tommy got in the band with me. He you know, so we have a thing in the band. You're a son of a member. If he's not on the fire from me, a son of a member can be in the band. So Tommy mctigue's son, who was in the military time he was at I think he he was, Uh, he graduated from West Point. I didn't know that it was he was think it was a hell. I don't know if he was a helicopter I think it was a

When he came.

And it had a freaking scaling ladder hooked at the time and we were at one medal day. It was one medal day and he pulls up and he grabs Van Is the commissioner at the time. He grabs Van and throws him in the car, gets in the car with him and they're flying down the road Riverside Avenue.

He came on the bathroom in the bathroom.

Yeah, yeah, he had to show him.

He came on in the bathroom.

Oh, he's He's great.

That's a big commitment though it right, I mean a lot of.

Time, huge, especially for the younger guys and everything. You know, like I still go to stuff, but I'm I don't. I'm not at I try to go to a couple of things when I can. Now I got But it's a great, great organization. I'm very proud to be part of it, and the guys are.

Liam has done an incredible job too, right, I.

Mean Liam's you know when when Jimmy Corkoran passed away, you know it was kind of we had a we had a tryout for you know, who's going to be the next guy, and you know it had to be Liam. You know, it had to do big dude. There was a million reasons. He's a big dude. He's got presence. He he at the time at the time he was he had the most we had. We used to have points for you show up at things. You know. Liam Hay had the most points. He probably was the most

Those guys in the band. Did they play an instrument, Those guys will.

Become to that position that Liam is a piper.

Okay, so they're already in the band and they play something and then they moved to that next progression.

Well that that was I mean the pipe the drum with Liam Lilliam's the drum major. Right, So that position is a lifelong position. That's you know, as long as he wants. That's not a part of the board, right. Uh, So that's that's he's that's his position. You know.

I remember watching the video of the documentary when you guys reached whatever was it fifty years or something like, you guys just had had a f here. What a what a documentary that was? I don't remember.

Good Timmy Garritty did a great job with that. Ye Timmy, that's that's one of Timmy is like into the whole video production thing, even before the job.

Yeah, I'm trying to get Edett Garritty. I've been trying to get ed on the show.

Oh he's great. That's his dad.

Yeah, yeah, we're trying to get him on the show.

A little it's a little bit of a hight difference set.

Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm good for I'll work with Beatty.

Oh yeah yeah, yeah. Good people.

So let's get back to get over to thirty three truck in ten thousand. A lot of guys slide across the floor. He just felt that he was your time to go there.

Well, I was on the litle Tennis list, so you know, it was just kind of the thing you wanted to, you know, try and get some truck experience before you get promoted. Now that's actually interesting, uh that I you know, I get over there and the list is moving, it's going nowhere. That list was going absolutely. You know, I did not think, well, Louis, you're the same. We got promoted together, so were the same. I did not think. I did not think that we were getting promoted at all.

We were doing we were doing the uh, what's the thing the coalition?

Right?

We used to have the when you were on the list, Right, you used to do the.

Oh what the hell did they call that? Yeah?

You Eddie Balls was right. I came on with Eddie, so I was close with him. He started the.

What is that called the the provisionals, you know, Yeah.

Like when you're gonna get you you're on the list and you're trying to get promote everybody.

You're bucking up money so that you if you have to hire a lawyer or something to fight to right.

Or you would go to like these political things so that, you know, you would go give out flyers for these guys, so that they would push for the list to get to the end, because the eligibles, the eligible eligible.

Son of them. Bitch, I'm getting old, some ship.

So I never thought. I didn't even think we were. I didn't think I was gonna get promoted. Actually at that time too, I was thinking about going to Rescue four because at the time, you know me, me Liam and Bronco we were all really tight in those days, and and they weren't Rescue four. So I was thinking, I'm not getting promoted. I had talked to, uh, you know, some of the guys there. John Gain was the senior

There was July of two, June June second, oh two, that's when we got Yeah.

So we had a lot of guys. We had a lot of classes, right, we had a lot of guys.

I remember George Johnson was up in the upstairs session here. I figured who else was up with him.

We had Billy Ryan, We had a lot of Ryan. Yeah, yeah, we had a bunch of Billy Redden was in there.

Oh, Billy Redden.

So this was this is something I remember. I don't even know if Timmy remembers this, but we had so many sock guys that and we were you know, again, it was ball breaking all the time, right, and you'd have to stand up and pick a thing out of the can and you know, you'd have to talk about something for three minutes. You didn't even know what the hell you were going to pick out right right and

What the sock?

He didn't break the balls, but he already knew, right, he never let on.

He was good.

Well, in my defense, I did have I was told early in my career that you don't even think about going to SoC have ten years on a job, right, So that was that was my ball breaking thing?

Was No, I got you. Yeah, I do remember that seeing you.

I don't remember. We'll go through the timeline. It's coming up, but I do remember.

Yeah, that was. That was a weird time.

We actually took Timmy we took did you you didn't get promoted off of that did you take that test, which the Captain's Test.

We took the Captains test.

Oh, we took the Captains test while we were in flips.

Did you did you get on the list?

No? No, and yeah, And I didn't get promoted off the next I took three Captains tests. The one after that, the one that I did study for, was the one that the men who we will not shall not name wrote that bullshit test and it was like you know past tests where uh, there was your handful of gimmes, then you had your handful of like real you know, like hard hard questions, and then there was your your fluff in the middle. You had to be a study here.

Yeah, was so hard and the test that we would have ever.

Wrote that test. I feel like the guys that were tested every single question, they said, how can we screw them here? How can we screw them here? How can we screw there? It was such a hard test and only two hundred people passed it and with ties, I think it was two ten to Dominic Bertucci was the last guy to get promoted off that list, right, I think his list number was two ten something like that, and you know normally they would promote four hundred.

Yeah, that that that test in school that time. That was like again, nobody was really studying. I mean we were down at you know, down to ground zero all that stuff, but there were guys studying for that test.

You know what I mean, Like, yeah, I didn't.

I mean I think I got like a sixty something on that test and I didn't even study one minute. But we had to take it because we were promoted one day. As long as you were promoted one day and rank you could take the test. And I think it was like a week or two later or something.

Well, the third one that I took, the third after the hard one, you know, which was only two years later because they only had two hundred people to promote on that one. Two years later, they gave another test that one I didn't. I barely studied for, but that's the one I got promoted off. But I remembered everything

When you went over to the truck. Do you catch good work before you got promoted?

While I was in the truck, and the whole time I was there, I always I always did very well. I did well there. I probably got more job. My first part of my career in seventy five is when I got the most work, because things started to tell a little fizzle off a bit. But yeah, it was in the beginning there when it was still crazy. You know, Wayne Hollerin was a senior man. I respect Wayne more than he even knows. But I remember him saying that the years of the Animal House where it was absolutely

Was it really?

Yeah? Yeah, prior to that I was total camp. People used the companies used to interchange there.

Wow, isn't that crazy to think that in ninety three, thinking all the work you went to and that's not even in that guy's.

Ball in is we all?

No? I was going we were doing six thousand runs a year, I think sixty five runs a year. They were doing over ten thousand runs a year in that time, and they didn't, I don't they didn't have two sections.

Yeah right, that's a weird thing that those guys didn't have a second section there.

Yeah, but I think what I read somewhere was that the Warriors, uh well earlier in uh like Halem and Brooklyn and a little bit later on in the Bronx, like the mid seventies, it was still going on in the eighties. We're in the in Brooklyn. It was slowing down in the eighties, but it was still rocking in the bar.

Yeah.

Yeah, Well the vacant buildings, you know, that was a big, big thing, and and and and what was I think what made it so, you know, when I first got there so busy still was the crack. The crack epidemic was. You know, it was terrible. And as a matter of fact, I tell people my whole first year as a proby and and and after until the crack thing, you know, Giuliani really cleaned things up. But we're seventy our old firehouse, the old because now seventy five is on Cameron Place,

That's what's there now.

Cap It's an EMS station. Actually, that's a whole nother story, is is it's I'm I'm really upset that it was nice to go into a brand new firehouse, but they Dennis Devon was the captain at the time, and the city it was the worst living firehouse in all of New York City at this time. There was two different times where a rat jumped on me while I was on a on a house swat. What's worse is there was uh and this is what this was the story that broke Camel's back. There was twelve guys that were

Was there right?

How was? Somebody asked me for uh, what's his name?

I totally just got off topic.

That's all right. Garrett was Garrett, Garrett Garrett.

So Garrett was a sign that when I was there, he was still a sign there. And but he wasn't there. I don't know. Oh, I think he was in rescue three. Didn't you go to rest.

H Yeah, I haven't seen him in the chat.

While I think I wrote his check home once or twice. He lived by me.

Yeah, that placed. Uh, that was some place man. Still, like you said, it's still if there's work anywhere.

Prince the Prince was my lieutenant when I first got there, and and he I was in group eighteen. He was in group eighteen, and John Halpin was in group five. And I told you Jay Walsh, Yeah, He was the other guy I went to from probaby school. We went we went to Semi five together. He was in Group five. So we only worked with those two officers. I always worked with either the Prince or John Halpin, and you couldn't have asked for two better officers. I mean, just

I gotta hit him with that horsehead.

The Swede, dell Wood and the blue Falcon are the same person the goose Great Fireman. That was Gary mcclink, Gray Fireman. Uh k Rock White Rock, Shanny O'Donnell. That's another story, Uh Doc. We had the good roach and the bad roach. Of course had the gimph hardball as hardball happened. Rest of Saul, the Commission, svend Baby, the

Did he stay there his whole career?

He got promoted, Uh yeah, Jay went. He also went to thirty three and then he got promoted and he went to lieutenant. He was a lieutenant and fifty nine injured for a long time. He retired a couple of years ago.

When you leave him off that list is who are you?

I was I said that before. My name is Tim.

Yeah yeah, So who was the guy who just wanted to talk about.

There was a guy that you saw the icon. That's that's Jimmy Dotty. Jimmy Dotty was a lieutenant and uh again, I don't know, I can't, I can stop. I can't stop saying that this is this guy's the nicest guy. No, this guy's the nicest guy. It was like one of the nicest far You know, John Ivolo, we all know is the nicest fireman that ever was on New York City fire But the icon it was Jimmy Dotty, great guy. Every meal, every single meal that was the best, that

Wow.

We met. She was living in North Carolina, but she moved back to New York when she found out she knew nothing about me. I knew nothing about her.

Wow, that's a great story.

When she got married. I was just at her house last weekend with one of her kids.

Uh, this is all from this guy that was working that.

Imagine if it didn't even work, If he didn't that's meant he was covering at the time too. He didn't have the spot there. This is what a special thing that is. Yeah, it was very It's very good. Me and him, that is a special thing. Me and him both shares so good stuff. Good stuff on my mind right now, good stuff.

Yep.

Wow.

As you get promoted in two thousand and two and then assigned to the third division.

Yes, I went to the third division. I went to Uh. But again remember this is like shortly after nine to eleven, right, there were spots everywhere, So I did. I probably did, like maybe two vacations. I never was essay once as a lieutenant. I was never ever essay, not even once. I went to fourteen Truck and I was there for I think six or seven months UFO. But then that's when I went I ended up. Jerry Mirtha asked me if I was interested in going to socc.

This is when the band comes in rough.

Not the band thing. Listen. I know you don't like to say that, but it's it's it's I like to say that I got to places on my own merit, and I say that.

I did work with three you know, the animal House.

I meant story.

I like to say I got places on my own merit. But so so there was.

A lot of things.

Jerry right, So so Jerry call too, and I said, yeah, definitely.

I knew.

Jerry knew that I was trying before the whole promotion thing, before nine to eleven. He knew that I was thinking about going to rest before. So that's when he said, you know, that's why he came up to me. He's still interested in going because they needed officers, you know, it was every everybody needed everything. So so I can't I I went uh. John Norman called me at home and I had to He said, I had to go to Hazmat school first, because I guess that's something that

What was it?

What was it about that place?

I'll say this keV I loved. I loved when I went to the third division to cover, it was something different you know, Manhattan was you know, because the third Division is from like I don't know what streets start saying, but like sixty five Engine's part of the third Division, so that that is where I worked on one like vacation spot, or maybe it was just a couple of tours, but it was interesting, you know, it was it was really cool to be out of the ghetto and in

And they do a ship ton of work.

And they were just rebuilding too. I mean obviously they were just rebuilding everything.

Really, I mean they lost yeah, yeah, it's it's it was, it was, it was. I was happy to be there, and I'm not I loved working in every uh squad rescue. I loved working in every part of the city and in those companies. It did. I will say I was a little uneasy at first, because you know, you're I don't know if guys looked at you and say, oh,

So too, Tool is dad, but he is speaking of Timmy fucking Timmy o'tool.

When I when I, uh, the whole time I was UFO there and then when I got there, me and Timmy were in the same group, and Timmy lives near me here, so we we carpooled together. We were you know, we always worked here. It was it was either Timmy or Owen mcgovernor that I was working with.

Oh I love fucking Owen. Fucking another Owen fucking.

I tell you my brother, My brother's Owen too.

It's Barrett, right, Is that Barrett.

That's uh so on all the way on the left, that's Scott Hickey than John Barrett. The guy that's on the left that's cut off though, is that's Jerry Kennelly. I love working with Jerry. I love working with a guy. I love working with a guy that's got an Irish accent. Yeah, and you know what maybe he used to make me laugh is nobody can understand anything he said. Some you know,

Timmy Mark is in the chat, he says, Jerry only said f you came.

Yeah.

Who was the guy in rescue one who had the brogue all the time?

Was it Cummins?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

He was another guy you could never understand. He would be story.

Have you ever heard the story of Amon Killian?

I know, do you know?

Do you know? Uh?

Tommy Killian. Tommy killing was in fifty six trucks. He's he was, he was in the band. He hasn't been around a band of years. But Tommy's father was a battalion aide. I think in the third battalion. I know, yeah, it was the third battalion, I think, And I guess the dispatchers. They're at a job and the dispatcher's egging him. You gotta give me, you got it?

What do you got? What do you got?

I need a size up at the building. I need to size up at the building.

A little bit.

Yeah, he says, He says, Oh the sight, he says, it's massive.

Send more lads, Send.

More lads, more fucking lads.

I love working with a guy with that Irish accents.

Great, that's true, I have to say that's not Uh, it's pretty good.

Great to hear on the radio. I just I don't know whatever it is. I love it. But yeah, great guys in forty one.

Man, how long do you have to wait before you got that call?

Two years?

For two years? Yeah, it was two years. I covered for two years, right, roughly. This is as much as I can remember. Again, my my memory is shocked. But two years and I was at.

I was at the rocket. Billy came up to me and he said, uh, time to go, Bubby. That he always used that word bubby. Yeah, yeah, you're coming over, Bubby. And it's because of what you said to me two years ago. I think that's how I know it was two years because he knew I wanted I was waiting and I wanted to go there. Wow.

And motherfucker too. That guy's funny as hell.

Man, Oh he was. He was great. It was great working with him. I worked with three captains. There was him and ever it came, and then Larry Thompkins.

We're gonna have Larry on in a couple of weeks. Larry's Larry is one of my favorite guys too.

You know what's funny, cap you had just said that you kept like when you first got there. He didn't talk much, he kept a low profile. So Louis said, hey, yeah, we're having Tim Grandall. I'm like, I don't think I ever talked to that guy. And all the time he seemed like a really quite guy. I don't know how good guess he's gonna be and who knows, look at this guy.

I know, I know.

So you know, we didn't talk about this tim when when I was me and Roe in like the late nineties, we started like a wedding.

Favorite thing, Italian favorite. Oh yeah, Timmy started and Irish.

You know, Louis Louis, I can't even there. I lost a freakingunt of money, lost a lot of money. We tried, we tried to work. Bad business decision.

But I remember talking to him a lot about this.

Only Guineas can make wedding favors, bro the Irish.

Yeah still does she still do that?

I know?

No, we got it basically dried up. But you know, probably like.

Very the whole wedding market thing is yeah, yeah.

Now it's all T shirts baby, Yeah, let's go.

Great guys in forty one, man, I got it. You know, I could mentioned everybody there, but uh, you know, just Timmy and Owen. You know, those are the guys that I drove me so was always work them.

They were Is that the guy? Owen was the one who went out. He moved out to Oregon. Yeah he's out in Oregon. Yeah he was, he was originally. He still sends me messages every once in a while.

He watches the show.

I talked to him on the phone every once in a while.

Yeah. Yeah.

He was a good kid, great great. All the chauffeurs man were freaking yeah, everybody's great fun.

He was a chauffer right a chauffer. Yeah, Owen, yeah, was he was. Yeah, so I worked there. I covered there. It had to be him. I'm I'm ninety percent sure. And we responded to I was covering there for just for the tour. We respond to a gas leak. I think we're second due or third due. Yeah, And it hits the brake and I opened the door and.

He goes no, no, no, no, no, oh yeah, yeah.

We don't get we don't get out right.

I turn around. I'm like, what are you talking about. He's like, no, no, Lou, we don't get out. We don't get off. I'm like, bro, I gotta get off. He's like, no, Lulu, we don't we over here. We don't do that. I understand, but we don't do that. I said, are you fing with me? He's like no, no. I said, all right, when in Rome, you.

Right? And that's exactly right. And you know what, I've had people arguing me, oh no, no about listen. The right way to operate is the way that company operates.

Correct.

That's how you operate as an officer. That would be a good tidbit for any officer. You go there, you operate the way the company operates.

Yeah, but he did.

He had to tell me like two or three times, like, dude, I'm getting off. He's like, no, no, Lou, we don't. We don't do that here. You know, like it'll be like almost like disrespectful if you got off or something like that.

I guess. So I said, all right, I'll stay on the rick.

I no, no, you've been gone a while.

Maybe he didn't get over that, but I was.

I was golfing.

Oh Sully was there too, Stevie.

Uh oh, Steve Sullivan was there, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I was golfing just last week.

Uh, with a buddy of mine I got with all the time. He's a suffer cop and he he's he says he's got two other guys that he was that he was a cop with. So my buddy's retired now. But he I'm talking to this guy Sean, and he says, uh, I said, I asked him where he worked as a cop. You know what unity is he's in whatever, and uh he you know, he's telling me where he works. But he said that my buddy Kenny, when they work together,

And make me look like a star. I told him to make me look like a star. Yeah, it's like Disney World.

It is just I want, I want you.

To start taking the china, but you can't use any tools, use your team.

One particular person that was just it just don't do anything for you the right freaking place at the right time was Mike Lindy. Mike Lindy was a great for him.

It was a good fireman. Mike.

Every time when he was you know, he would I would. He wouldn't drive me that often because it was either to me your own because they were the same group. We were in the same groups. But every once in a while I get microft. So now we're at a job or something like I need an extra I was just going to say, I need an extra hook, and Mike's right there, you know, he.

Just always on point, maybe on point on point man.

Maybe it was uh he was a thinking maybe allegedly could have been a Connecticut guy.

But he hooked me up like he was like a seaport.

Guy over there when I went on vacation, Oh, only way to go and do all that stuff, whatever that places over there.

Forget what that hackens. Everybody goes over there.

To look at the old ships and stuff.

When you mystic when.

You first got into sock, didn't take you a while to adjust to the you know, not first do mindset, Like a whole different mindset being in sock, right, you're coming in after the fact for the most point.

Well, uh yeah, there's that's a whole different mindset of operations. But you know, in forty one, we actually did have a lot of first do work.

You guys did over there, no doubt.

Yeah, So that was that's a shithole over there, My goodness, it was still a shithole.

Pretty good, Yeah, But but I did get a lot. I got a lot of you know, quality work there, quality work. One of my worst nights was, uh, I don't know if it was all over the news that one night that there was like eight or nine and kids that died and that that fire was up up by Yankee, stay off of it wasn't Ogden Avenue it was a Woody Crest, this fire on Woody Crest Avenue. It was it was terrible. It was like a brownstone building and just like nine kids died. It was terrible

I was just gonna ask you it don't suck.

It's it's great. It is good.

I mean, he's stripped around the world, that guy man.

Yeah, excellent, get promoted to captain. You spent the let's see you there, Oh you went forty one as a lieutenant for a long time.

Huh yeah, I was there for like nine years. I think.

Yeah, Wow, I didn't know that. Wow looking a long time.

Quiet.

That was quiet.

I told you I was quiet. You see the guy you never talked, and look at this personality bubbling out of him. It's coming out of nowhere.

No, it's it's low a great thing. And and you know what, that's another place it's changed again. But that was another place where a lot of the guys we in those we'll call it nine years. For the most part, it was the same guys we had. We really had a great Especially you go to when how great is it You go to a job and like when guys are talking to radio, you you know who they are, right, not only do you know who they are, but you know where they are because you know how they operate.

It's just.

It was a great you know, going back to seventy five and thirty three, that that firehouse. The day I got promoted, I went to the member in the kitchen, you had the where the phone is. There'll be all a telephone list of everybody in the company. So it's a double house. So let's just say there's fifty people in the house. Right the day I get promoted, I looked at the phone list and I counted how many guys are still in the house. Now the damn get promoted?

I don't think he went after you got promoted.

He probably got Yeah, So it was sewn there for the whole the whole time I was there, Mickey went. I think Mickey went to forty one a year before me, because I was I was covering there. I was UFO, and two spots had opened. John Hogan got promoted and John Flatley got promoted. Jack Flatley h So those are the two spots. So Mickey got the first one that opened, and I got the second one that opened. But I was UFO because John Hogan was on medically for a

So I say all the time like that. My best times was when, like you were saying, when you're working with the same guys, Like if I work with the same offices and I had the same guys work with me, there's a level of confidence that you have, and there is you feel you make a huge impact at a job because you know where the other guys go and you know what they're thinking. So I always said, when this certain group of guys work together all the time, those are my best times. I think, Yeah, I.

Agree, and you know, and I understand the other side of the corn. When you get another guy in, especially a newer guy, and you got you know, and you're you're trying to you're trying to train that guy to be that that that next guy. Right, So there's you know, there's that level of it can't always be the same guys.

And with a new guy, now you have to think about him because he is new, and so he's also distracting you from what you know, maybe you would be doing. If it was all guys that you had to you didn't have to worry about it all because you know where they were gonna.

Be, what they were doing normal.

I mean, even though I didn't work with like let's let's say Phil z Ice, phils Ice, uh, because I always work remember I said, I always work with Timmy and Owen. But every once in a while Mike Lindy would drive me or Phil z Ice would drive because those were the other chauffeurs. Phil's Phil's Ice. Another great another great fireman, thank you for your service. Just a great guy. You know Jimmy would yeah, yeah, yeah, he was good man. He's good fireman, great fireman.

Uh.

I mean I I John Barrett, John Barrett was a great fire and and so I remember he was so now he's like the seasoned veteran there you know, but I remember him just being the conscientious new guy that wanted to do every single thing right. You know, it's and he did. He was he was always in the right place at the time he was learning. He was he was down in the basement building collapse simulators and doing the guy was very, very handy. Scottie Oltman. I

I think what a firehouse like.

If you're a fireman, I know how it was for me, and you had the same bosses for a long time. You know when I say long time five years or more, if you're if you stayed in the same place or something like that, that was that was a positive things for the fire That was like a comfort thing. That was it was just a good thing because you had consistency, right,

Sarno was in some something. My cousin's in what thirty two twenty years? Yeah, he's in one thirty two truck for twenty years. I just was talking to him.

Yeah, it just reminded me of a right when I got promoted to lieutenant, obviously, I'm coming out of the nineteenth Battalion. Forty two engine was in the nineteenth battalion. Also, Roy Levec was a lieutenant forty two engine for at least twenty years. He retired, and I'm I'm still in flips now. I know I'm not going. I know I'm not going to the nineteen battalion out of the coming. You know, I'm not gonna They're not gonna give me

You know, your luck here, not not your luck.

It wasn't it wasn't a look just at a precedent, you know, just out of uh, what's the word I'm looking for, just that principle, because the place was a great place. I love. We used to I worked there a lot. Oh, uh, seventy five engine when I first went there was a four man engine. Actually forty two engine was the only five man engine. Uh, So we

What did he say to you when you went there? Was he like, yeah, what do you mean when you went to when you told the captain you're gonna put the paper.

In for that Oh, oh, he said, no, no problem to me, you know, no problem to you know. But I just told him, I said, it's just out of principle, great place I put my paper in. I know, I'm not getting it. They probably didn't even look at it. You know, they probably took that and throw it right in the garbage.

But like a yeah, actually you get promoted captain now after you there for a while. Uh, and he gets sent to the fourteenth. Right.

So so I went to the fourteenth and I went and saw a chief forean and he straight out said to me, are you going to go back to SOCC And I said, uh I, I have intentions on going back to soccer. So he said, well that's I appreciate your honesty. And he said, he said, I can't give you like a UFO spot or anything. I said, how about the AR Group? I said, I'll take the R group. He said, you want the AR group? I guess they hadn't given anybody our group in years.

There or whatever.

I said, he said, it's yours. So now I'm working in uh two eighty seven, what their six? Two eighty nine, what's thirty eight? You know, like they're great companies. So I loved you know. That was that was that was good. And I did that for six months and then down He called me and asked me if I wanted to come offline and do the Governor's Island drill. Louis, you were the legit logistics for that rock. Yeah, for the art task for US. So so I came offline and then I was there was a little it was a

That they had, I forget what they were now.

Yeah, they were like two or three story residential buildings. So they wanted to recreate the that plane crash and make it a three day drill. There was gonna be a has meat incident there. There was gonna be dive incidents mostly collapsed. They were going to get the robots involved from Hasmat. We had drones from the FBI. This was in twenty fourteen, so drones weren't There was no drone unit back then. Actually that's kind of how it got started. But so so I got involved with that

Were you you were in the I M T.

You were in the I M No. No, I was never your no, but it was it. But but that drill was specifically planned by the I N T and the Sock Task Force.

Yeah, so you're bouncing around and had not many times, is it? Well Ralphie just did it though he's a lieutenant fireman and now he.

So you go back?

How old? Wait you have to wait to get to the cat Well you UFO in forty one?

Right? You never got the went back? What did I gave you the year? Right? Uh? I don't even know. Does it just says like sixteen?

Maybe it says twenty sixteen, twenty thirteen assigned to fourteen six months later back in Sock and it doesn't get I was.

I was Garretty's XO for a year and then uh, and then I went and.

I was.

I did a couple of vacations, but then I ended up backing forty one.

And then I didn't realize you were there for that long. Nine years is a long time to be.

Over there, man, And I was probably the UFO was the captain there for over a year.

Whose spot was that? They who left when he went there?

That was Larry Tompkins, Oh, Larry Tomkins, Yeah, it's house. Yeah, So I was, Uh, I was excited to be back, and I think even for a little while there we were they were in with they were renovating the house, so they they were in with sixteen seventeen for over a year.

What was that like, It's cool, you know what.

I love working with a lot of guys. You know, like it's uh, dinner.

Time, you know, you have there's a lot of guys.

Yeah, yeah, we'll.

Break and it was it was great. I do like those guys are great.

Well, personalities what bulls to break more?

Just yeah.

I think if you were in a single engine and you only got four guys, you know, people.

You could guys.

One guy's on the watch, one guy's studying, and then uh, you.

Know, going back to what I was saying about forty two engine, that's not how that house was. Forty two engine. Those guys were always together, you know, it was. It's actually interesting. That house is massive. It's a there used to be you know, it used to be fifty six truck used to be in there years and years and years ago. So it's a big freaking firehouse, three story firehouse, massive firehouse, but just the one engine company and they only ever really hung out in the kitchen. Their beds

One house, one mission.

Yeah, God, let's go to some of the pictures. We didn't get to.

You muted.

Oh damn, sorry about that. I want to hear a story behind this one.

So, uh there was a hint. The guy on the left there is Jimmy Graeney, great fireman, probably been the Middle Day four times, I'd say, all freaking legit au grabs he had. He's a great great firemen And uh, you'll never see him wear anything on his jacket either, because he's a humble, humble human being. Jimmy was involved with acting, not not necessarily acting, but he did extra

People trying to you don't make much money, you don't make much money. No, but we were doing it as fun.

And you know, we all because we were in two movies and you know, yeah, I think the rule was you had to be in two movies and then you could get your card. Yeah, we were all insane. So then we're all now we're all getting our you know, getting our head shots done and trying to get other movies.

So we were all doing it.

Dude, that's hilarious, Like, well, you never know like what guys are doing right, like in each firehouse, there's so many different avenues guys, but we're The fun.

Is because we all did it together. You know. That's what made it so much fun. You know. Uh it was that's that's me and Nicole Kidman. That that was the peacemaker. Uh I forget what you hear?

That is she hot, like really hot up close, very skinny.

Very thin. You know the movies you think, yeah, the movies does put weight on you? She was very thick.

Look at him, Yeah, give it a stiff. Did you sniff her up there or anything?

I know? It was those were they were they were fun. Fun. Actually that set, I did meet a girl and take her out on the date and she ended up being a lush we were at the we were. I took it to some place in Irish. What's that place? What's that place in Manhattan that's right uh, across from across from where the U N is. It's kind of like sits up high. So no, no, no, it's it's it's an area of Manhattan.

We were.

We were city. No, no, city brunch, not co Op City. It's uh, what the hell is the name of that place over there?

I know where it is?

Well, it doesn't matter. That's what he lived over there. But we went to some Mexican place and she got stewed, and she's getting up to go use the bathroom, bumping into tables.

And I'm like, she was like, Skytown? Is it town?

No?

That Stytown's all the way downtown.

Yeah, what do you know? What do you know in town?

Though I forget the name, it doesn't it doesn't matter. It's drunk irrelevant, drunk in town.

She was from drunkingantytown.

Oh God, give me another one.

Here we go.

Uh.

So that's I was in forty one there. That's when they were tearing down the old stadium. So they uh, they built the old, they built the new stadium first just north of the old Yankee Stadium, and then when they were done building a new one, they started tearing down the old one. So we got really tight with the safety company there. I can't remember the name of the safety company, but the guy there was top notch and he always let us come in and you know,

I got a couple from Shay one actually one remember if they had a pile like a mountain high. Were you there then when.

They Yeah, I was off that day.

And then guys brought a whole bunch back and I said, okay, I'm gonna take one, and then they were all gone, everybody, yeah, that's taking them.

I just took one seat and one set of seats and I put them to give it to my son. But as you know, some of them a bitch, greedy bastards.

Oh Water Rescue nice, Yeah, that was swift Water.

Swift Water training that was in You know, when you're going down ninety five through like going into Baltimore and is that huge bridge, we just think it's that's Quhana River. Maybe, yes, I think that's that's where that was. We were doing training on that river.

Mikey Wood in the corner the roof bro that was.

That Freddy Hill there on the right and Mike Wood.

Wouldn't you that's some tough training man.

Yeah.

Yeah, not hotter than.

Actually, somebody can actually ty that. There's no doubt.

What was that.

Somebody could die at swift forward to training. When you're doing that, there's no doubt somebody could die.

It's no joke. Some people are not some people don't so that so this picture is actually a little bit more recent. This is right after Joe Murphy, who's in the bagpipe band, passed away. This is right after his funeral. The guy right to my left, that's John Daly from Ireland, and Damien is all the way to the right. These are two guys that are in the Dublin Fibergate Bagpipe Band.

Is that the guy who said that you said, the gout on a plane from Florida to go back to the island. Then he found out somebody waiting, jump back on a plane and came back.

Right So John the guy right to my left. He was in Florida with his family on vacation and he flies home to Ireland and he lands in the airport and gets a message that Joe Murphy passed away. He gets right back on a plane and flies back to New York.

Wow, that's a brother for you.

Yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah for sure.

While we're in the band, so the band used to go to Ireland every other year. Billy Hopkins is the guy with the suit on in the back there or the jacket and the shirt.

Uh.

He used to organize these trips every other year for the band. And this this is nineteen ninety seven. This particular year is the year that we went in memory of Jim Corkoran. It was kind of like an in memory of Jim Corkoran trip to Ireland. So we went to Scotland first and we competed in the World Bagpipe Championships in ninety seven, and then we were only in Scotland for three days and then we came back to Ireland and then I decided to propose to my wife

Song looks just like that's half the guys.

Man. Yeah, sad crazy there said that. You know, it's like, you know, this is it's it's part of your family. You know, the fire departments are family. The band is part of the family, and it's it's it's sad to see, you know, but that's life.

Yeah, you know that. We gotta say congratulations. You're a part of the I Married Up Club too, just as I am. And Louis is so good for you. That's up, I Married Up club. What else you got, oh some hockey? Nobody cares about hockey? Uh you know what.

Nobody That Burger on the right, that's Burger yeap on the bottom of the right and then Dennis Devlon is in between me and Burger. Dennis was my captain. Uh Dennis Dennis, Uh, he got promoted to battalion chief right for four nine to eleven, and he ended up dying on nine to eleven. Now this is kind of a crazy story, but uh, September eleventh, you know, we were down there. I was at my firehouse and we all loaded in the back of my pickup truck and we went down there.

After.

You know, we got down there around three o'clock in the afternoon, and we were doing our thing, you know, searching on the pile the whole night. And then the next morning we go back to the firehouse. As soon as we get to the firehouse, we there's a call from Dennis Devlin's wife to the firehouse. She's saying that she has Dennis on the phone and he's trapped and he's under the foot bridge and Edie wants a turkey Sam lunch in water, which is something he would have done,

Uh he was.

He was a great captain. I but we all we're all like, this is like crazy, He's she's got him on the phone. So now everybody's getting there. Now we're get back in and now we're driving back down we had just got back. We're driving back down there now and we're going under the footbridge. Now we're trying to get communication with his wife, Like, what is there any more information? She's still on the phone with him. What's going on? You know, this is what we're talking about.

I don't think I ever heard something like that that's yeah.

Crazy, you know, like there was such a window there that we had hope, you know what I mean. And it was so early, and you don't know what, never wind up finding him, you know what. I'm embarrassed to say. I actually we don't remember half this either, man. I don't remember that.

It's all a blur.

In fact, I had a lot of guilt with his funeral. I remember when they finally had his funeral with the bagpipe and we're trying to play it all these different things, and I believe it was Dennis. His His funeral was the same day as Tommy Foley, and I was good friends with Tommy. And I had to go to the beginning of one funeral and then leave, and then to to get to the end of the the next funeral. And I was guilty that I wasn't at both for the whole thing, you know.

But you guys were spread thin back then. Bro Oh my god. Yeah.

You know.

Wally Blum, you know, talk about its ebody a Wally Wally Blum, you know he was he was always at the rock and he did so.

Uh.

I had gotten in touch with Wally and while I asked him if we could get vans for the band, so that so that we could you know, spread out guys going to all the different funerals. And while he gave us five, he was he was the guy in charge of getting vans out to companies and you know everything. So he got us five vans and there were two on Long Island, one upstate, and two in the city. And that's how we got guys to go to all

M But.

I can't believe that story.

You got two of them. Well, he's got the one with his sister and now this one.

What's that?

You got two crazy stories? The one we you met your sister and now this one. Yeah, would have known this would have been such a crazy show tonight.

Oh, I know, I know, I know you knew.

I was like, well, the guy never said hello to me.

Well, you know, when you're a seventy five and the thirty three and then you know, you don't talk to the MEA Pitton's on the job, you know what I mean?

That works maybe so.

Maybe I'm lucky that he's still talking to me. A big one on three.

Guys, you know, can we do. Uh can we do a uh you want, Cap, I'd like to uh toast to uh Tony MSTRELLI. Tony passed away.

Uh.

His funerals this Wednesday. A great guy. I went to college with him. We both were in Courtland together.

Uh.

I played football my first year while I was there. He was. He's the only guy that remembers that I even was there.

Uh.

But a great man, a great human being, a teddy bear.

Uh.

We're all gonna miss him. Such a great guy.

And he just retired too.

Huh yeah, yeah, what did what did he have?

Yeah? Cancer?

What did he have?

Pancreatic?

Oh goodness, gracious m hm, that sucks.

I'm gonna give him the five bells line of duty.

Wow, that's crazy.

Another one?

You got some other shoutouts?

Rough?

Hold on, we got to get the guys.

Oh my goodness. You know what time it is? What time is at a time for shoutouts? I can tell you that much time for what.

Is time for? Alright? Cap?

Now you can take it away, old skip tip of the day. All right, Well, I hope that we'll you never ever have to give a May Day. But this is this was a tip that was given to me, I think actually Liam Flowherty might give me this tip twenty five years ago, but practice giving yourself a may day, uh, in your car and your way home from work, on your way to where go through the whole thing.

Uh.

You want to be concise in your may day if if you ever have to give one for yourself, so make sure it rolls off your tongue without you even thinking. I know it's a lot easier to say, but it's I think it's a good practice to every once in a while just practice giving yourself a may Day. That's that's uh. That's number one. Another another little tidbit. This was I'm gonna go back to Dennis Devlin. This this

I told you before that there was two guys and the other guy was your former captain from Tablada one seventeen. Captain Flood passed away last week too. Yes, him the five bills, I said, it was a lot of duty, all right, roofie my god.

I I have two quick shout outs. Uh you got uh the gofund me there?

Which one do you with? The baby?

The baby baby kier.

I pulled up a.

Picture, O, my god.

So this We got quite a few of these, but some of them just stick out to me. This is Timmy Sullivan from one hundred and eight truck said this to me, just uh a member of the company. Obviously, Uh it looks like they're raising they already reached a goal, but uh, just something to take a look at Uh. I guess UH had a tough time since the daughter was born a couple of months ago emergency C section.

And then I'll post it the chat, thank you, thank you. And then I have my boy Bobby Benome. Yeah oh.

Yeah, yeah, so Humble Heroes, these guys, they were on the show. I think probably it's probably like three or four years ago. Yeah, he gets he gets stressed up and he goes to the hospitals, to to the pediatric ICU at Saint Luke's Hospital.

Uh.

They partnered with Hot nine to eleven Foundation and they they basically do a lot of great stuff for these kids that are really at uh. You know, I guess maybe don't have much hope. So he's always done this. He always sends me to pictures all the time. He did say, hey, if you could go to go to their humble heroes. I think it's hh what's the website hhfdny dot org. And if you donate right now, they have a donor who has pledged to match all their

Man.

Good for him doing the Lord's work.

That's it, baby. Yes, cons we got to play the pet list two commercials really quick.

Yes.

New Jersey Fire established in nineteen thirty and under the current ownership since nineteen eighty seven. The New Jersey fier equipment come and he handles a complete line of fire department equipment and supplies. Headquartered in green Brook, the company operates full three M Scott service facilities in Ridgefield Park and Tom's River staff by ten fully authorized Scott's certified technicians with a fleet of six fully equipped service vans.

One more, one more, Here we Go.

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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 Foundation.

And tonight so health and safety old skills. Tip of the day is we always talk about we actually we're just talking about this in the pre show, right, Kap getting early detection with Rob Brown going to get everything taking care of it. But we always speak that me and a little But what I'm gonna tell you also

To find them.

Yeah, and don't forget to send your stuff please for the cup of Joe and fuego to Coub's podcast at gmail dot com. That would be you. I wrap cabbage. I saw you, and I keep sending them in. I just got something from tivodal rough.

We're talking about, oh my god, the next I will.

See you guys next week. All right. Until then, you know what I always say, stay low and yo.

All Right, everybody, Timmy, thanks a lot. We'll see at the big one, everybody.

All right, guys, we'll catch you on the top floor this time.

How about that.

I don't have a top floor right here anyway. Good Night,