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, Louis re Frado is still alive.
Thank god, Thank god, there he is. That is my boy. Everybody's worried about it. I got so many phocals. How's Louis doing? How's Ruffy doing? There? He is, he's doing better, my boy. The only guy really enjoying his retirement's falling apart. What happens?
I'll keep hearing this. What kind of happen happens?
You stop?
I'm running full speed. It's not like I'm sitting around the couch. I don't know what happened.
He keeps dolling cools. You gotta slow down, man. I'm like, if this is what's slowing down does I'm out on slowing down, bro. I don't want to slow down.
Next week.
Next week, I'm going to be in Florida golfing I'm going to be a I got stuff going.
Talking about back. Welcome back to the getting salty experience. It's the only one that others claim to but we are the only one that brings the kitchen firehouse, kitchen table to you. I might get me, Pete. Remember we used to joke around saying several claiming best fire fighter podcast in the world, but now we got the proof to back it up. I don't I should have took taken the thing that the tank showed us. But we are the number one podcast, uh top in the top thirty.
We are number one, thanks to you guys in there, Matt Antley, Alreadie workle My Man, QC, Beastwood, Pee Wee gave Fox Procaccini, Sammy Peters, Darren Defriese. Thanks to you guys, we are number one.
Gonzo with the great Hair, bringing it back.
Bringing, bringing it back all style, the great Hairy. So listen anyway, before you get onto the commercials, I really got to talk. I was really worried about my boy, you know, the forty something years of friends, right, I mean yeah, you mean I was ready he needed blood. I was ready up to give him a couple of pints. Bro I was ready to go up there and give him a couple of pints of Kooby cool blood. You know what I mean. They begin on maybeck squatting.
I might have had to give time out on that blood. Time out.
What's coming?
I know something's coming. Come on, I know it's come on.
Give it anyway. Yeah he does, don't. But I don't know if you know this, but your wife actually sent us your inside the house video cameras of when you went down and she had to call the ambulance.
So what happened.
I woke up in the middle of the night, he wasn't feeling good. He went to the bathroom. Before you know, Rosie Fraser. Down goes Fraser and she's got to call the ambulance. And this is I mean, it's kind of garble, but this is all we got on the camera.
Well, we'll have to do the audio because respectful video. But it's sound a little something like this. It starts out like this, whoa.
Then he goes down.
It's the way out. Stay away from.
What's my line? You can't use my lines on me. Stay working a little buddy, Say.
Away the light, little buddy.
Yeah, we're all good.
We're feeling good, good, feeling better.
Yeah, off the medication that was I think one of.
The main things as the appetite back back.
Yeah good.
Yeah, it's a posta yet of course, come.
On, Oh bed bar going on here, you know, Oh.
Take it easy, guys, show yeah.
A yeah, right, these you guys didn't know. I'm not I haven't think going out my family. I'm trying to cut down on the cussin. So we have a sweatshot. I'm doing my best.
Do you want to play?
I was heard at work today.
Yeah, let's get commercials guns.
We only have we'll we have one now when we'll do the other one towards the end.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm hippy.
Here we go.
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Pull them do it, do it, so just call show.
We don't want you guys to miss a single thing. When Mike gets sworn in, Louis and I are going to go down there. We're going to film the show at Mike's swearing it. I said, all I want to do that shit. All I wanted to do is sit next to Mike's mom. That's it. I'm not asking too much. I'm just going to sit next to Mike's mom. All right. I would be very respectfu folks. You'll see the new me. I won't be cussing nothing.
It'll be good.
You'll be two inches house.
You'll be too inches, but that that's right now.
It'll be on the one side.
It'll be I said, the news be done by that time.
In the oh, I am getting my neighbor placed July first. And I walked in there and the guy looked, he says, walk down the hallway from me. And I walked down all yes, whoa man. Oh yeah, it looks like I just got off a horse, right, I'm like, yep. So we're gonna get that bed boy fixed up July first. But maybe i'll gain an intro to height wise. You know what I'm saying. Height wise, I was pretty many. We got guy from the Blas. This seems to recurring
theme here. If he's sixteen seventeen busy house, busy.
Alum, green Berey Was that the green Berets.
It is the green Berets. We had a John Row we had on the Chiefs lost in so they must have been doing it. Was Milner from there, Milna No, he was nineteen nineteen, seventeen nineteen.
Mannix was from seventeen as well.
Ah, man, this guy might have about mustache than the guy we had on last week. He's got some.
Had a pretty good mustache. Eddie Garrett is a good mustache.
Did have a good mustache. All right, let's bring him in here, rough you do, honesd mancon you have been here.
God you're ready, I'm ready, all right, coming to the stage sixty engine his whole career, firefighter Guy Schneider.
Where's the correct.
He's got it around somewhere.
He does.
Yeah, I got it around.
We gotta get patriotical, we gotta do it all right, Let's do it there.
Yeah, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Best country in the history of the world.
Bro.
And I just want to say to all Canadian friends like Darren, welcome to the US. You's gonna be the fifty first state. Way to go awesome wait of America.
Before we get started, we should uh gont you have uh?
I have.
Yes with that picture of for me, so I want uh here we go, right. So today was.
One of those days, two separate fires. We lost guys at two separate fires for the first time in some ridiculous amount of years.
So Richards go founding very close with one O three one O three.
Joe Dibonatto was h He was in Squad sixty one when Kevin and I weren't squat to eighty eight. He ended up going to rescue three uh and John Pauloo and Lieutenant Myron. So just keep him in your thoughts today, yep.
I was in Provy school with with Joey d great kid, great kid. Rest you had to be close.
I told you how to be closed.
I saw him do one of these, which means, go get my green brid All right, so let's let's start talking about guys. Schneider the man. Where were you born?
Uh?
What neighborhood? What was family life back you know, back then in the old days.
Yeah, born in Amityville Brunswick Hospital which doesn't exist anymore, or down a couple of years ago, nineteen fifty two. Lived in Babylon basically all my life until I got into the fire debarment. Probably I got one sister. She's down there with Delaware.
Somewhere Delaware with joe all right, what did dad do?
Dad? Well, I worked village of babylin sanitation for a while, which helped me out a lot for the physical for the fire department. That's all we're doing is lifting cans and whatever else, throwing ship in the back of the truck.
Dead bodies dead.
But yeah we had one dead body.
Fellows, good fellows back then.
I'll tak the dunk the first all I dunk. So Dad wasn't a fireman though, No, what makes you take your test? Were you a volley?
Yeah?
It was volley and Babylon Village.
Ah, there you go at what age?
Uh?
Well, I got in when I was eighteen. What year was that? What talking nineteen seventy?
So you went down there in nineteen seventy with your bell bottoms on and you have to pooh shirt right rough and the platform shoes.
And you're like, yeah, well really it's a good part. I only lived three hundred feet away from the firehouse.
So were your friend's volleys? What made you go into the volley?
Yeah, a lot of the guys from my class high school, they went in. It's about ten of us, I think. So you were in seven y you.
Work in the Sanitage, which ain't a bad job now it's not bad, right, and you're doing the volley thing, right, So who your friends take the test? And what made you want to take the test?
I'm the only one out of a crew that took the test so far. Really, yeah, as far as I know, So.
Why did you take the test? Who told you was a good idea? You just like to a volley.
You watch all the City of New York stuff, you know, fires and everything else. I figured what I'm gonna try. It took the test. I took the took the seventy seven, didn't do too great. And then and uh, I took the I think it was eighty two. Right, I did it much better because I had my five points. Military.
Oh oh, you left that out. Wait, let's roll it back a little bit. When you go in the military.
Military, I went in in seventy one.
What what branch?
Navy?
Navy?
Navyman?
What was that like with your family involved in that?
Now, well, my father was in the Navy World War two, so you know we picked up on that.
They chance the name.
I want to know what there is that's me. It's on the heel crash crew on the ship.
Wait, what navy allows guys to have a head that's like that? Unruly?
This is working.
This is the seventies.
What was that like?
What was that like with the dealing with that stuff? I mean, did you guys get practiced a lot? Did you ever have an actual Well.
We had a hero on board, you know, every time it had to go up and come back, we had to set up the crash crew just in case. So you are what kind of ship, yeah, destroyer escort destroyed frigate.
So you already you were in the crash crew, you were fighting fires in the navy.
Yeah, well yeah, I went to damage control school first.
That's crazy.
Did that was that next to you standing in water when he stuck his finger and that the buzzer out.
Got to be windy on the deck decks, right, it's.
Windy out that day. What can I And that's my boss on the right, that's your boss. That's the boss.
What's going on over here? Wow?
Did you did you guys? Did you guys stay in touch after all that time?
Yeah? The my bus there, I still keep in touch.
That's pretty cool.
How old are you there?
Uh?
Probably nineteen?
Wow?
That that's a great picture.
Man, How is a guy? How was the ports of call? As they say?
That was good? I mean we did the first cruise in the Mediterranean, rode to Spain, Naples, Italy, Pereus, Greece.
Forget about it.
A short time?
No short time?
Yeah, a week. You can do a lot of damage, you know. That was good.
He's elfing of these.
You know, we had fun.
No, you got old old navy tattoos?
Yeah, I got one on my arm and I got you.
Yeah.
But The hardest part of that was Gontanamo Bay where they have the it's like the training course for going overseas, right, and for two weeks you do everything that you possibly couldn't do, and you know, like the crash crew to detail, you know, fires on the ship, stretching line, the whole bit. That was my baby there, So.
You would listen. You in two years, No, I did four four years, four years wow. So that's then you came out. You got the sanitation and the well.
I had the sanitation before I went in, came back out, and the mayor of the village wouldn't hire me back, and I told him, federal law says you got to take me back. This is during Vietnam, the whole bit. So because I'm not going to hire you. So I went down there unemployment and they told me to go to the v A. The VA wrote him a two page letter on all the federal laws that he broke not hiring me. Right the next day, I got hot, rehired again.
Ah, how do you like them? Apple?
It worked, so they stayed with it until you know, I took the test at eighty two and uh, you know, I got in, so I obviously I had to resign. So hey, it worked out pretty good.
Sweet. So you got on in eighty four eighty four. I think my brother got out in eighty four. Well, I don't know what class he was in. What class were you in?
Oh god, I know it was seven eleven eighty four.
That was my You didn't have my brother, Richie Coobler, Richie the rugg had a bad rug.
They don't come off with water.
He might have your classes. He got in. I think he got on and in in the summertime of eighty four.
Yeah, that's when that guy went in in July.
Yeah, you would know. It looked like a like a there.
Was three classes going at the same time. We were the class of veterans. Oh I five points. We were there and then he had to.
Call for my mother tomorrow. What did you say? He looked like he had a possum on his head, had a.
With all respect to rich Man, that was the worst piece of him.
Man.
Even as they got better, like they got better, what you couldn't tell anymore?
He kept the first one. I think.
I don't know.
He never changed. The good thing about the rock there we had old vets in the company that was formed and we had I forgot the guy the fire and say, a guy from ad Engine as our company commander. Well he sat there and to hold this, you guys, you probably don't know how to march. You know, you don't know anything about you know, cadence. Okay, So the next day we found out one of the guys in the
company was a drill instructor. All right, we'll go to a little practice job and this poor guy from ad Engine. So he comes up and the guy goes, well, you guys gonna learn how to march, yes, sir, right. All of a sudden the guy could the d I gets something.
All you heard was called.
And then he started goes and you know, not a the poor guy made. He's like, oh right, you heard the feet bof. And then we started marching. We were doing obliques, real marches, you know, flanks every day. We came back, came back, did the right face. He's standing there and he's looking at us, goes a bunch of smart asses, Well, chief saconno.
I was if he was down there, he was the.
I was dead that long.
Oh my god, he's there forever.
Bro I know. Anyway, he comes up and he goes up to the guy from mate and goes they will run to every every station station, so we weren't allowed to walk anymore. We had a run. Yeah, because he.
Didn't say he was gonna step on your cock.
I don't think he's gonna mess with us. Not good for us, A good time. It was only eight weeks at the time.
Well, you way, what do they call that? Most of the time, the military guys were the company whatever.
That is, squad leaders, he WI crash crew. At the end, there seventy four. I got e five. They made me, uh, helicopter scene leader.
No, when you went to the when you went to the provy school, usually they make military guys the squad.
All of us were military, so we took the one guy and it was brill instructor demand.
So who else was in your class? Any notable names in your class?
God, I think one of my one of my lieutenants, I can't remember his name. Now, there was a bunch of guys. You know, I still got the picture. Yeah, you have to look on the helmets for the name.
You don't have the You don't have that picture of provay class.
The guns somewhere around here lost the parade. Come on, here guy.
This is the question. Were you're making any class? You know where you wanted to go? Where do you want to go?
No, I had no idea where he was going.
He found up in sixty Engine. It just engine.
But the good thing is the captain that was there, Captain John Giblin, Him and I went to John Jay together. So it's like I walk in, I'm going, oh shit, I know you not that saying oh ship, I'm sorry, Sarah. You know, don't worry about that. Don't worry about it, you know. So we used to do, you know, sit and study hall there between classes and talking.
And he was at the rock.
No that John Jay.
Oh he was a captain of the sixty at the time. Rough and he's somehow it's yeah, it's like a yeah, like a suck on. So he put in the word for you and he goes.
He probably did, I don't know, because only two of us went down there, went to sixty out of the class and like where.
Yeah, what was that like walking up there for the first time in nineteen eighty four?
Well, see see we walked in. Of course we've got an old, brand new gear and all the senior men are standing there They're just like looking at us. I'm like, this isn't good. We're going to get in trouble. So next thing, you know, they we're gonna check your gear. So he took all the gear and they threw it down the basement, the helmet, everything down. I'm like, oh, well, we're really good ship now. So we managed. You know, we did our thing. We stayed the proby for a while.
So who is the some of the senior guys there when you got there.
I got h Hell's I'm not trying to think now, Well, we had well, Captain Giblin, we had Maxwell, Captain Maxwell in the truck. He became a chief a couple of years later. There was so many guys I can't remember. It had Bob Kenny, Billy Lawson was in the was in the engine already. I think he was there like two years before us.
Oh so he was I don't remember. He was in the engine.
Yeah, yeah, it was in the edge of first. Jimmy Johnson was there. You know the guys that you saw right that we're on the air here.
We hit that name all the time, Jimmy Johnson right.
Roof what's that?
Yeah, we hit his name all the time.
Jimmy Johnson, Yeah, yeah, he was. He's still around, Yeah, yeah, he's Uh, what is in it? I think he's in Florida.
Oh, we gotta get back to that roofie. So were you living still in Long Island when you get yeah, still still in Babylon. So you're making that commute up to the Bronx.
Yeah, it wasn't too bad. Hour and twenty minutes at five o'clock in the morning.
So when your first drive up there, right, because that's got to be when the Bronx is like, oh yeah. It was like what are you thinking to yourself as you're driving to the neighborhoods at.
About you know, you go pass all these old laws, you know, and some of the schools are you know, the kids are out there, the old handball on the walls, and I'm like, wow, this is not exactly what we thought. But the streets are crap, you know, and the cars a couple of you know, a d V sitting in the parking lot. What are you gonna do? It was the Bronx. It was there my first daid tour three hours and my first.
Job in three hours.
Three hours. Wow, all the people are banging on the door. What guy opened the door. There's smoke pouring down the street and going, we got a job. Boys got into that thing, you.
Know, but you had you had been in the volley, so.
You are, well, I knew what was guy? I know and a half and a half, you know that whole thing.
So and you were I guess back then everybody was a five man engine, right.
Yeah at the time. Yeah, And I forgot what what year they cut it down the floor?
Were they riding the back step when you got there?
No?
And then everybody had to get in the cab, right, So and that changed. I think it changed like a year before I got there. Here go, it's the ald America of France.
Oh wow, look at that.
Actually just one of our previous guests. I'm like, I was like, I'm gonna use this one again.
Yeah, what conto? You just earned every dime, every twenty five dollars, that whole twenty five You just earned it all right there.
Bro, twenty five fifty.
I'm gonna raise you up, pay to seventy five dollars.
Nice, Hey, let's go.
That's good. So you get there, you ride in the American of France and the first job.
Is what Yeah, root project, third floor up we went. You know, we had the lines and stamp pipe right, they be the stamp pipe and I had no idea what the hell I was doing. So got got the whole spread it out, got the water they put out. There was one room. Let's enough to put a little water on anyway. That's good though, bro, Yeah great. My brother always just say to me, I hope you get your first job. Is just a controlled, easy job, and it's not one that's scares of living crap at it.
You know, there was a few days we're scared of ye we'll talk about those.
Yeah. Yeah, a lot of fun.
So what was it like up there? You know, work in the Bronx in eighty four.
You drive around, you go on the ems, you know, RS runs everything else. You get the lay of the land. You can see you know, there were at any homeless back then, believe it or not. There were no tents, no tense city, nothing. You know, you had the junkies that were burning the crap underneath all the bridges, all that copper and everything else. That's the only time I've really seen anything no tents was eighty four.
Like, would you say because I thought I had heard somewhere that most of the city was burning like in the mid seventies, but the Bronx was a little bit more like late seventies into the eighties.
So yeah, I guess. Well, the calls we had, I mean, we never forget sleeping, We're out twenty runs at the night just to get in and out rs. You know, we didn't have ems yet, but then you know, you get there ten seventy five, okay, And it was only you know, at the time, three and two. That was it, so everybody knew everybody. It was fun. We had a good time.
But who did you run? Who is sixteen and.
Eighty three, twenty nine, seventy one, fifty five and the illustrious forty one engine?
Did you were you going to eighty three and twenty nine? Did you go that way the most? At that time in eighty four.
I really know, we had a lot of stuff around us. I mean they would come to us. Really, our borderline was like three or four blocks away.
It was already the work was already moving up from from there. Right.
Well, yeah, there was a lot of I mean, we had a lot of old factories that were burning. We had the coffin factory. I don't know how many fires we had in there, old coffin factory. I was with the truck then, and uh doing overtime and went in the basement, just stacked up coffins in the basement. I'm like, oh my god, I'm let's take one back.
You go back to the court.
In the TV room. The chief said, that's it. No, you're not bringing into the firehouse. Come on. So we tried, We tried.
Is it who's up in fifty five truck? Now? Is that what Jimmy is the captain?
Uh real, Oh no, he's in fifty six.
Yeah.
Nothing.
I don't know anybody anymore that all the houses have changed. Do you still out of my crew? There's nobody, everybody retired.
Do you still go back at all?
Yeah? We go.
We have a.
Memorial mass every year in June. So that first week of June, so we get that. That's when I get to see everybody again. Right, the guy look great, you want to see some of these other guys. Oh my god, but we.
Just had raw on. He's all great.
Yeah, he's all great.
You know, was he there when you got there?
Oh yeah, he was already he was there two or three years. I guess before I got there.
Ah, he was all sulty.
Yeah. Yeah. We did a lot of backstepping together. It was fun. But nineteen eighty eight the captain decided he found out I was a volley and I was a trainer for the pump pumpers. So he said, oh, you're going to Chulfer school. Cap I don't want to go to shelf of School because you gotta go like so anyway, off they sent me two weeks. You know, we did everything there. It's amazing how many guys were there that have never driven an engine. I never saw parallel parking
an engine. These poor guys had no idea really, And so now one of the instructors found out I was a little more savvy about pumping in the truck, so showing him how to back up this way and that. Yeah, I did my thing. I was doing the great. But we had a guy from they used to set you up to go to shelf of schooling. He's to be the turnaround all the way at the end of the the uh the rock anymore. At the rock there it's
like a driver's training thing. And they would set up the cones and yeah, around around this one thing and get the cones right. So, you know, I had just left. They sent another guy down. Captain gets a call from the shof for school, so he goes. You know the guy who sent us. Yeah, he hit every cone on the run, right, It's gotta be a hundred cones out there. All they were doing was picking up cones as he was driving past. I'm like, oh my god, he made them a chauffeur.
Hey, yeah, I was just gonna say we got a carry.
We had a guy from Australia, which I did a few Australian trips. That's the only picture I got me on a pump. So that was the second alarm over. And uh it was a parking garage in the Bronx right off the one hundred forty nine street.
Did you did you get nervous over?
You know, after after the years that you were doing that, did you did you still get nervous at the pump?
Like kind of hydrant that worked? You gotta find a hydrant that worked. We had a lot of hydrants that didn't work, So it was Yeah, after doing it for a while, you used to what you're doing.
Man's look at those breast fittings and stuff.
Man, Yeah, that was a failure. That would have to be towards the end of your career, right because those little that was.
That was a little heavier than too.
Anyway, I want to I want to see that picture Gods of him. That the one that we used for the thumb Now.
Oh that one you didn't send me, but I say it this way by.
Yeah that woh what guy?
That was? That was my promo shot. We had a camera crew come in on cable vision. They wanted to film us, so we had They took sixty Engineana who put him in there. The camera lady. She was gorgeous too, with the America of France. We had a seat in the middle between the captain and me. That was her spot. This camera was bigger than her. I mean she would sit there and the lens would hit the windshield. So we had her. It's called in the Line of Fire,
which nineteen eighty nine. Yeah, and they followed us around for two days. Never got a thing except you know, e R S box and a car fire and that was it. But they took this picture is this whole thing?
Sorry?
Yeah?
How much time did how much time did you have in that pic. Guy, how much time do you think you had at that time?
A couple of years? That was what you mean that picture?
Yeah?
How many years did you have on the job at that time?
I have it was nineteen eighty nine, so I had five five year yeah.
Yeah, so you never thought to make your way over to the truck that interested you?
Like?
Did you know we did the when you were pro you did a thirty day stint over on the truck. I busted my ass, you know, you can. You can only do a hook and a can so much. But after a while, when we did into the project, I can bring a mall with me and say, up a hook, what am I gonna do? Sit there and puncture you know a concrete block. Say, yeah, it's a good idea. If I went, I had a twelve pound mall in the can and off we went. So it worked, It worked, everybody was happy.
But back worked.
What's that You prefer?
An engine worked?
Though? Yeah? I enjoyed the engine when you got Jimmy Johnson Bill Lawson on the backstep half the time. So it worked out.
So any fives that you know, uh uh forefront in your memory that you can remember early on in your career that you went to.
All right, I remember one there you'll laugh at this, hu. I think it was working overtime. Had the knob went up, it was like the third floor. So I'm leaning up against the wall until the truck finished, you know, forcing the doors and everything and everything. We saw sup that burning really bad and I'm like, yeah, maybe i'd look around and my turnout coach burning wall. I didn't notice it for now leaning up against got it down the wall with the with the knob and uh they had
the firearm. That was it.
How long you have in sixty before they give you the nozzle?
You like, I say, backstep? You know, if you're a chauffeur, you can get the backstep easy.
No.
I mean how long though before they would give you the nozzles? As a young guy in sixty.
He'd probably be there two or three years. Some of the older guys didn't want to go up, you know. They all of a sudden, you know, on the backstep and the senior man's pulling nozzle. He hands it to me, go okay going and all by what So I was gonna complaint, good, good guy, I got good nozzle time?
Who are some of the senior guys there when you got there.
Uh, Jerry Rooney, Rooney her, Rudy Rooney Man, Roone Man. I had, like you know who else is there? Johnson John raww was not exactly the biggest scenior, but he was senior man than me. We had, Uh, I'm trying to remember Patty mac the chauffeur. He uh. I think he retired at sixty and sixty. Wow, I was sixty years old. Have retired at sixty? I think that's the story. But we had a lot of you.
Know, brought you met those over there. No Ucons and no.
We had I'm trying to remember names, so many names, but yeah, every I mean guys are good. I mean Louis Morales the chaufe Yeah, but he's got like four brothers that are all named Louis Morales. Honest to god, it was great. But yeah, just keep going. But you know, like I say, we we were busy in the first four or five years, and then all of a sudden, it was like someone dropped a cloth on top of the bronx. We we you know, there's some nights we
actually slept through the night. Then we started e MS was always big thing. But that was already an e m T before I came in. But they didn't qualify me as an EMT, so I had to go through the cfr D course certified first Responder. So all right, we did it. We got our thing down. We get a call. I was driving at the time and it was only one cfr D at the time. Everybody else is still working on it. We pull up the old black lie. We're on the Grand concourse. Woman's delivering a baby.
Oh boy, he's in the back seat. Oh know, this is great. Now what he were gonna do? So I said, get the oldbe kid, let's do this. I'll do the right thing right, got in there. As I opened the door, the baby popped out, and I'm like, oh, this is much nice. I can disagree anyway. She's Chinese, her husband's Chinese. So I'm sitting there, says give me the get me the clamps or anything else. So I look up at the guy and he go, you got a baby girl. This is the time when China had restrictions on babies.
Second baby. If it was a girl, it was like if he he takes off runs, he runs away from us, and the cops like, what's going on? Get him? He said, father. Two of them are running after this guy. I don't know how far up they went, but this bull woman's screaming. The Chinese no idea, what's going on? So Ems finally showed up up. We clamped to cut the cord, you know, we wrapped her up and they granted the ambulass. Where's the father. The woman is screaming, father, father. I'm like,
they're still running after him. I don't know how long they took before they actually bought him to Lincoln Hospital. But that that's the way it was. I know, the first in China, the first born can be a female, the second one if it's a female. Now we got a problem, all those agents like that. No, no, they changed that whole thing. Yeah, yeah, they changed the whole thing.
The best guy about the nineteen thirty La France.
Oh, that's the valley volley outfit. Yeah, we had, that was our in fact, I believe it was in nineteen twenty nine America of France. Well, it was a volley outfit. That was our first pumper in my company in the valleys. But you had if you didn't have the start working right, you had to crank in the front. Comma god, let me tell you something. A lot of guys had hurt hands that you don't do that the right way. That think pops back out and you can lose a hand.
You had to rake get it started.
Yeah, you know, you had a magneto you had to put down and you had to you know, there's no key, It's just that, you know, you got to step on the starter pedal. A lot of fun.
I'm sure they did. They still have it or they got rid of it.
Yeah, they still have it now. They got it. Everything else. We actually uh a friend of mine in the volleys, but i'll saet Roger. We actually were cleaning it up and we wanted to see if we get the booster tank working because it did have a booster line on it with over two and a half. So we you know, we put water in it and the thing was like a sprinkless system all the holes of you know, from the rod. So we figured out, let's try something out.
So we plugged it up, we got the water in it, we got a call for a car fire, so we're looking and like another guy goes, what do you think frank up? When we got there, there was a crank siren, and off we went. We figured we're going to do it. Had one light siren was nasty and we like this, yeah, almost like that.
There's so many of them. I'm not sure what it looks like. There's so many of them.
Yeah, I should have sent you a picture of it. Anyway, we we we get to the fire scene. The chief is standing going and he's just shaking his head. I want to talk to you guys when we get back. So we put out the fire and now the other rigs are coming, all the big rigs. Now it're sitting there and they're all like, oh my god, that's a chief. Will never bring that out to a fire again. It stays a parade truck.
And I was going to say a parade probably that's exactly.
Yeah, well this I don't know if it has a pump on it behind the seat, like I.
See the hole in the front of the crank.
But yeah, there you go.
That's crazy. We had we had a picture of the dog on the rig.
What what was the story with Joey. Yes, that he was a trucky. That's that was his. He would hear the alarm go you know that the tone go off, and then the guys are saying, truck goes Joey wherever he was, he jump up. This is before they had the cab. It was just a door. Who we used to leave it open. He used to jump up, get up there. We had like four or five old turnout coats. He was happy. He was happy. In fact, he gets on to a job, he'll get off, do whatever he
has to do. Unfortunately, we had a multiple alarm up in the It's somewhere in the sixties. So he jumps off the truck. No problem. This three tower ladders working. The dogs will know how to read numbers. I'm going where's we I don't know where is he? I don't know, no problem. So we got back the quarters, mixting, you know. Forty four. Truck pulls up. There's Joey sitting on the turntable. I forget something. He was happy, he was very happy.
I love the duct tape on the door. There's Joey.
That's uh by the way, I think that is uh. Oh, what the hell was I forgot his name? Anyway, Yeah, there's Joey when he was a little bit smaller. But yeah, we had I forgot I forgot the name of the dispatch now used to be in the Bronx three three beef. Yeah, that's the beef beef. That was the that was the beef beef.
See, I don't I can try to blow it up and get a little closer, but that must be a young beef.
That's it is like a beef, bro that's a sluid beef.
Yeah, when he's up, all the pillows sometimes fell out. But we were already.
There was a lot of dogs that.
I was gonna say, what happened to Joey, because usually it's not a good turnout and for the dog somehow.
Yeah, well, yeah, one of the guys took him home and I think you had him for about a year, and.
It's not a good turnout, right if somebody runs him over, or.
We had a couple like that. We had you said, have a beagle, got the hell his name? Now? The dog's out, runs out of the quarters, he gets run over by a car. All he did was roll under the car, got up and walked right back into corners. We're like the guy, so all right, get him in here, get him in here.
Said the fire house dogs were tough like that. They were like a straight dog the guys found right, and they just adopted him and that was it.
Well, the dog that they had there was called Stevie. Stevie was blind in one eye, right, and uh a few times we had our stair door and then the pole hole right next to it. Well, Stevie not looking right, we go to the pole hall down he goes. So when I first care, I was one of the why ald Toornaio coats around the pole. That's Stevie.
He falls through the pole.
Yea, he knows. He goes right down, lands on his feet, lays down and he'll sit there and wait for the rigs to come back.
That's that one was free.
Who dude, who is the guy that ran over the over the dog and then taped the paws to somebody's steering.
I forget who that was. One of the guys in the channel know that was a great story.
That was so funny.
Ran the dog, the.
Dog and then put in somebody's car and taped the door.
And then taped it to his like the dog arriving the brothers. I forget who. I can't remember ship man. There's so many.
I said. That guy's name comes up a lot. He's been on the show.
Chief, Yeah, well what what?
What?
What?
Remember them? Oh? My god? So what how how long do you get the seat in the.
From eighty eight right to two thousand and four?
Oh you got it in eighty eight when you went down?
Yep, yep, they.
Sent how'd you like driving in the Bronx?
That's not that bad? Really? Right now I go on the Bronx. Now they're changing all the roads around. Yeah, the the Deacans switched over. You got all the other roads are going in there. They took all the exits out, so now you're getting go all the way around the Bronx. That get to you know, one hundred and one hundred and thirty eighth Street. What a pain in the neck?
Yeah? Who is that?
Guns pulled up Patrick thomb He was asking about for the uh when you guys drove basically, did you know the streets or did you leave it up to the company officers to get you?
Now we have to know where we're going.
You have to know.
You know, you go to a certain building like times a month, you get to know the building, the people in it, who screams at you. You know where the hydrants are and everything else.
You hadrons. You had to know because there was no grid.
There's no grid service there, man, it's there's just streets coming everywhere.
They got hills, they.
Got and they put the they took the old caps off. He's had the hydrant wrench. They put those other caps on. Had a special runch.
Yeah.
Yeah, they didn't realize when they put that in. They had a iron ring that set itself against the hydrant. Well, they rust try and get that cap off. You see a lot of shots, but guys are beating the cap with an axe or sledge hammer with them all. You always got the axe next to the seat in the shelf. You had to beat it and then hold to god that it would at least spin right, And a lot of hydrantcy was it one one job we pull up eighty three, was down the block and put the hydrant,
you know, the wrench on top. The hydrant falls.
Down going on by you right, yeah, man.
With a hit of a.
Truck, chance to my rates and I got a working fire, two windows of fire, and I'm like, are you kidding me? And I've seen plenty of you know, we used to get down there and the hydrate inspection. You kick it before you actually do anything and if it falls down right up. The crew had a lot of hydrates and you usually get the ones that get hit by a truck. And you're looking. You see that the fitting there, Well,
there's a hydrant. Now we're looking for the hydrot because you know, no one's going to pick that thing up. It waits. Yeah, there, it's all cast iron, and you're looking, you're looking, and finally one guy gets founded. Somebody threw it in the garbage. Can wow, come on, that's that's the way it was the Bronx.
At the high of what would you say, the busiest times of what year? If you got there in eighty four.
Uh, the first four or four years is busy.
Now when you say busy, we had any given how many jobs you're.
Going, there's some days free jobs at once, you know, just in and out. You know, we we have In fact, when you pull up, you have the relocators there and they're all lined up down the street. It's like six or seven relocators. You know, one set would be nice, but now we have to wait for them to leave. They're all doing there.
By the way, I found what I see, that's exactly. I just figure I found the one you were talking about.
Yeah, that's night. The new caps they got. Now there's ones at the special rench you got. Yeah, the pain and neck they really were that day. We persevered. That's it. We got. We got water one way or another.
Yeah.
Crazy when you said that it slowed down after let's say like ninety Uh did you feel like you where was the work was it?
Was it much further north? Like was it going north?
Had a lot of work then in Harlem? Yeah, a lot of work there, and we went to a lot of second third alarms. You know, it's just it was crazy. But then, like I say, everything started to slow down. Give me some nights where we actually slept through the night or stay in a day to work.
Allegedly there's nothing there.
Yeah.
So you guys ran in first do with forty one and uh we were talking to raw Sorry.
They just have me gone.
I'm gonna drive my car to your house. I'm just gonna plow into your garbage cans for the hell of it.
Bro, there you go.
So, so you ran it with forty one. I brought refused to call them a squad, so he would.
Yeah. Well when they went to uh an engine and hair handst engine. Some of the people there, I mean really, oh yeah, we're gonna do this with that, and they're like, easy, easy, take it easy, right, forty one we had a job. You're like this. We had a job on one hundred and forty ninth Street. So then we get there. It's a small job. Forty one, first two, so we'll see, you know. The chief goes sixty take up. Now, John rule wasn't working, but I was just as bad as
he was. We swing around to forty one's quarters. Back in the quarters, shut the door, we stretched the line, got water. As soon as they pull up, the door opens up, wolf streaming right through the camp. The walkers his helmet off, the Shoffer's screaming, right. They were like, you know, just let the host off. Water Wars back in the day, Oh yeah, oh yeah, the cam.
You know, I think you said that the water Wars were insane.
Oh yeah, like everybody has their fresh air of water warves man, So.
Don't work.
Teleprinted doesn't work, nothing works. Everything's wet house.
Watching it soaked the kid. They can't well, when I was working the truck, thirty day detail still a proby and you know the guys are going up, I got the can. I think it was twenty nine truck had the can. Next thing you know, I get locked in the head with a stream of water from the from the extinguisher. Right, what do you want to play games?
Anyway?
On the hallway, smoke pouring out of the door, and we're squirting each other with the cans. Right, we're laughing our asses off. Oh my god, ship, thank god they put the fire out. We were out of water, so we were stuck. That was it for us.
So you left in two thousand and four, But there were a squad. They actually went.
From Yeah, they went. Yeah, they went to a squad.
And they're in a perfect spot man, because they can pick up a lot of work and haul them. They go right across the bridge in and they catch a lot of work over there.
They used to have a hard time. They used to have what is it, motor vehicle office right next door. Now you know, motor vehicle everybody's got their car where.
They double everything.
Yeah, we couldn't get out. Maybe you're sitting there, siren and air horn and everybody kind of like, you know, what are you gonna do?
It?
Just couldn't make the turnout either. Way.
That's the tight door there too.
And for that oh yeah, I mean you know I drove forty one one time. Oh my god. The guy, the officer there was like, you know how to drive? Yeah? I think so, I've been doing this for like ten years now. So we go buy in this two part cars are and I'm going raman speed right, didn't touch a car. He's like, oh my god, Oh my god. So it's great. We get to this. It's i gotta find me another shouffe. You're out of your mind. You have to be able to drive this thing. What do you kidding me?
They have the lime green on that back then.
Yeah, that was there at the time. Mac Yeah it was an old Mac.
Fast Fast.
Yeah they were. They were good up to a point, but every time, you you know, something would fall off. And like Jesus, I remember we had uh I was working up at sixty eight engine fourth of July. They had the Nelson fire that night. I think it was one hundred and sixty something street. Every window in this abandoned tenement was blown flame. We're first due, so I'm driving up this pork captain sitting going do you want me to do a ten seventy five. Just let the
chief do it. Do whatever you want, cap, I'm gonna gonna find the hydrat found the hydrant.
You know.
We start, I'm now I'm away from the building, but this thing is roaring. You start and forty one comes up.
Sorry, I gotta stretch your line.
Your tore the air. Yeah, God take it. I don't care. They stretched the line. The last couple of falls and it's dragged down the street. I hold up the last couple and I've got this. You can't even hook up. But we were there for like six seven hours. The whole night, three or four tower ladders work, and yeah, you couldn't do it. Everything's six floor tenement.
Guy, did you ever use the sting like when you got the job?
And I'll give you another story. Was it thirty seconds? Yeah, we got in. There was a job on one hundred and forty fifth Street in Harlem. So we get there and there the fourth floor is total flame. Must have been six apartments holling across. They're trying to get in and they can't have too much fire. I'm sitting there. Ems has parked in front of the hydrant. So I
told the guy move your rig. Now I got to get the hose here, and he looked at me, so okay, So I got the old five inch yellow hose there, ran up, knocked him over right, He got the hydrant, looked up, gave him water and the thing the hose whacked the door, entered the door and he got in there. Fifty nine engine had put the hydrant, had tried to hook up to the hydrant on the across the street. He did one of those and the hydrant fell and rolled down the street, so he was out of water.
I told him, get up on the deck. Gun, we're gonna do this. Flit all the way across. So the deputies there, the you the guy who was a lieutenant in eighty three ins at the time, so Chief Tobyn I think yeah. Anyway, he comes up and goes think you can handle that. He says, yeah, just get everybody out of the building because we're gonna we're gonna smash this right right, everything that we can do, we did it. The poor guy in fifty nine was having up. He was yeah, knocked the fire down.
I mean every a lot of water right at dage if you.
Use that right.
Yeah, we knocked it all down. The towel ladder was around the corner. What they were doing there. Most of the fire was on this side, but we got it down.
Yeah, I mean we're saying lost art, right, I'm just saying it's just ast you talk about water wars.
When I went to two ten that had this thing where they would set up to stang so it would point directly into the walkway of the kitchen. So if all they had to do was just pull the thing, so the chauffeur would pretend like he's just checking the rig in the morning. I walked out one morning with
the garbage can. I'm emptying the garbage in my hand, and they pulled the button and it hit me right in the face, a garbage can about twenty feet away and knock me about ten feet into the kitchen like a little dangerous water was But.
Ye can do it. In fact, a lot of times I used that. You know, we had big rubbish fires. I mean in three corner, three year all day, Am I by the hydrid hook up? Stand up here, get the proby up there. Look where the fire is. Hit it with the water. How do you do it? Yeah?
I mean what it is in the uh in the hey days, the most runs that you ever did?
Uh what a day or that for the year.
Uh, no, for the year? How many runs were doing?
Ye, he was doing about sixty seven hundred runs back in the late seventies. Okay, we managed to take out about a little over four hundred. I was in uh huh, you know before before the time of quiet. Let's put it that way.
Now, when you in your busy time, right, what you perceived to be busy in those years with the guys who were there from like the late seventies, like, yeah, this is not so busy like it was when we were Yeah, yeah, yeah.
As we running out, you know, twenty five times at night during the day, there was always some type of fire that they're going to. It was crazy. We get the stories, you know, we had them, and then we made up. We managed to Uh we did a couple of good jobs. We had a covering captain. One time came in I think he was from Queens anyway. Over time he got in the seat, he goes, you guys busy, He says, no, not really, we're kind of done. Three jobs later he was the second alarm in the middle
of the night. This guy, this guy got kind of like plus three. They had to put him in the ambulance to send him over to Jacoby.
Shot.
Yeah, I don't know why. Anyway, we come back back in the quarters, you know, no problem. Well, the aids car, the chiefs car, whatever it was. At the time he gets out, he's still got his gown on. He looks at me at points goes you starts chasing down the street.
You told me it was quite not.
I said, we're not that busy. Probably won't get anything.
Long, probably they won't get anything.
Murphy was there.
We heard start showed up and you heard that and said, tell the hell did he happen?
God bless you, Jack, But he just.
He did manage to do this in a spare time at the firehouse.
But is Thatt's see it.
It's on the back of all the multice cross.
Yeah. The engine office door is right below it. So, uh, this was in my my When I came on six months the guys found out I was a welder. Okay, so Commissaw at the time was Tom Mahoney, let's go get you a welder guy. I'm only a proby here, what are you doing? Went to the welding shop. We picked out a welder brought it back, you know. We it was like three or four hundred dollars with all the welding rods. So he comes up and goes, uh,
what can you do for us? I says, well, you know the racks we had for the for the gear, there was all that one inch pipe that was like screwed on and it was like, you know, just standing there and if you put too much, gear would start to sway a little bit and then rock and roll. Sorry, you want to redo the racks, right? So I did once one side. We used angle ion flat bar. I did everything I could. We bolted the racks right into the wall. That was my thing. I wasn't a probium one.
Now I'm welding, you know. I had the rig pulled out so I could get the welder in there and everything else, and we redid all the racks, of which they gone today when they redid the floor. But while I was I figured, uh, this looks good. So I had the garbage can cover. So I had one of the guys painted up and I made the Maltese cross out of here.
Is that still there?
Yeah, it's still there.
That's cool.
Taken a year ago it's still there.
It's left one of those new red racks.
Yeah. They finally they had to redid the floors. They actually came in with the red racks on wheels, you know, they took everything off the walls, which they had to and uh yeah, they redid the whole floor. Took them two years, but they did it.
You got Albanese on there is is the same guy in the chat.
Yeah.
Yeah, we talk a lot about like certain houses that have like a lot of pride, you know what I mean, like throughout the job. You know, forty four and one twenty and you know seventeen is definitely in that that group of you know, they have like a great following of retirees and obviously the guys we've fed on the show. Why do you think that is that it keeps going like that, like it's such a sought after house and that the guys you know, stick together for so much so many years like that.
It's just it's the area that they're in the firehouse is what one hundred years old now, so you know, it's just like old style. You feel like you're in a real firehouse, not like some of these new ones they got now concrete black walls. I mean the house was built eighteen eighteen seventy seven. The truck was the first truck in the Bronx. Oh shit, we had a single story, single girl. And then they built out because
I needed the uh what is it? The called wagon for the engine that was going to come in sixty was down on one hundred and thirty seventh Street, right, single engine. Now there's projects around there. They got nineteen forty five and they brought the engine up. They the new firehouse, new firehouse at the time, but there was them, and then fourteen Battalion came in.
Well, that sounds like a good.
That would be a great house to do too.
That would ballad like we could. We'll find the sixties old quarters and an old firehouse. We should do a spotlight on.
A couple of picture of it. I don't know what I did with it. I didn't put it in the thing there.
Back in the day, the trucks and the engines were never together. That didn't happen later, that's right. And then they started building. Eventually they started building firehouses to house a truck and an engine together, but they were never together.
Yeah, then say the the engine hundred year was nineteen ninety five and the truck was just last.
Year, last year, guys, and fifty anniversary, right.
Yeah, that Annirosary yep, that's all that.
Things have changed in that firehouse, especially when he got there. Who would you look at and say, like, that's the guy I want to be like that That that is a real hard charging fireman right there.
That you had Pete Lusskis, who's now like I believe it, I don't know if he's captain lieutenant. He was a go getter. That man knew everything about how to force a door, you know, getting in the right apartment, you know, and doing every truck thing, you know, the old power tools everything else. It was amazing. With the saw, he could just cut piece of metal up and it's like holy shit. He went to do that no time, you know.
And it was just one of the most I guess knowledgeable firefighter in the trunk.
A bunch of about an engine but like what what nozzle man? Did you look up and say, wow, that guy is.
Like you had Tommy Cappiello, Jimmy Johnson lost in when he was in the engine. He wait a bunch of guys, a bunch of good guys. You know. They kept me through the whole thing. You know, you want the nozzle, yeah, I'll take you it, you know, just to wash down or whatever it was. There. We we kept together, right.
Yeah.
You never thought ever of getting you know, starting to study to get a you know, to move on.
I wasn't interested in it.
That's my man right there.
My shop. Yeah I had that. They finally we cleaned out the basement and we put the welder down there. We had a work bench and everything else. And yeah, I used to go down I had my leathers and everything else there.
You go, Wow, that is an old firehouse.
They I used to have my leathers on and I'd be welded down there. We got a run all r Yeah, I gotta go right, so I'm still wearing my leathers, right, and we have a covering captain. This guy scared me. He got I got in the rig. He's sitting there. He had the creases on his shirt sleeves. You could cut a piece of meat with him. This guy was so clean, you know, and the shirt was buttoned up. Everything was going you know, like okay, yeah, you know, so he's going up. Are we ready? Hanging on the
chiefs coming down the stairs. Our battalion office was upstairs, but they made him a staircase. From all the fumes and everything else where he comes down was chief Ed Brown. This man had a baritone voice. I don't think he ever used his hand you're talking to make commands. He would yell right, but he was. He was one of the best guys. His hair was mussed up. Now he's
coming out the door. He's got the Bronx T shirt with coffee stains on it, his officers shirt hanging hanging off his you know, he's wearing his slippers and the knees on his pants were almost shot. So anyway, he's walking towards the rig. The gang was right in the middle of us, and the Captain's looking and I look at the count and go, that's my hero. The day he just wouldn't go to mere was he was? He was. He was a funny guy.
You ever get to work in any other Burroughs. What's that You get to work in any other Burroughs over time?
Maybe you know eighty three or forty one. No, we never left there because we weren't rescued.
Right, But he never worried or queens or anything like that.
No, never, No, I was over there one time for two sixty three.
Yeah right, I was gonna say, you guys used to I was in one seventeen.
We used to relocate. We would go right over. Yeah, that's pretty funny, how that was. I was just gonna ask you that. It feels like that's we went to seventeen. We didn't get relocated much, but if we did, it was either one thirty eight if I remember right, or or seventeen truck. A lot of Yeah, sometimes we got a fourteen truck, but those were only a few.
I guess, I don't know.
We had a lot of one sixty three is to show we had Fourth of July. Hell was I dry? I was driving sixty eight engine an old mac. Oh my god, this thing was so bad. The starter wouldn't work, So I knew what the starter was like. With my body outfit. We used to keep a hammer in the in the cab and that there was like one sprocket missing from the starter and it would catch. You couldn't get it starts, it stuck beating. I'm under the rig now I'm beating it. Hit bang bang bang, and I
go gates on it. Now, all right, we got it, let's go. The Lieutenant's going, oh shit, hell, so we go out. We had a rubbers fire that was a block long and block high, so we used all and I say, I'm looking down the block and this bacon. They got flames blown out of the top window. Here comes one sixty three. I'm like, all right, we got Queen's cut in. They put the bucket up, knocked it all out. The engine went in with a hose just to make sure no problem. That was fourth of July.
Fourth of July we had I was working. I was working, you know, sixty eight engine. I think we had forty five runs that night. Wow, we were getting there. And we went out and we didn't get back till four in the morning. We were running. The guys were pooped. I was pooped.
Had no idea that Giuliani screwed everything up. That Giuliani.
Everybody, Yeah, got rid of all the fireworks.
Bro ah. Fourth of July when I first caught a drive in nineteen eighty eight, fireworks around our firehouses, like unbelievable. Come on, you know we got you know, we got an E. R.
S box.
So I would have to go down the block. As I'm turned the corner, the Roman candles were going across. They shut the windows, shut the windows, right and duck. So I'm halling hal ass life sirens, air horns, and the things are still stooping hitting a rig and I'm like, oh my god, this is worse than you know. Wartime here, get down there. We had then eighty strown at us. I mean, come on, you.
Know we got a little of that roughy, right. I only got the very very tail end of that. Man, I didn't get much of it.
But I worked every fourth of July for like fifteen fourteen years or some in a row, fourteen year row. And then it just got to the part where, you you know, it was it was like just a regular day.
It was nothing. There was no fireworks.
Now it's quiet. I don't know if it's quiet anymore.
It was, yeah, it's quiet.
It was very quiet. Maybe here a firecracker go off.
Did you ever move up? Stayed at today? We stayed in, stayed and stayed right there.
I got a house in Sound Beach, which is next to Miller Place. You know, got married, had kids, so that that that worked out. I mean that the commute wasn't that bad. I was the only one living out eas at the time, so I was stuck. No carpooling, and then we just kind of like, you know, get in, get out, do twenty four come home.
Did you ever have that one fire? There was an no ship moment, like you thought you were done.
Yeah, it was not, you know what, not really when I got behind the seat there, it was like, you know, do the old ship and I hope the guy we get enough water on it. It was the under guys, you know, tell the story. Oh yeah, we're going down the hallway and we knocked down.
Me. Did you have a favorite rig that you drove out of the ones you're driven.
Yeah, the new one they gave us, a ninety four Sea Grave. That was the first one that we got, which turned out really to be a ship. I mean, you couldn't control it in the snow. I'd be driving and then all of a sudden, the thing would skid and the steel wheel would go to the left, go to the right, and I'm like, oh my god, this is crazy. There was no traction on that front end at all. And the fact was even worse. Even without chains, you know, you could at least get there. But it
was kind of like it's tough. I'll give you a story of it. I had to go to the shops with the rig, the ninety four rig. They were going to try and fix the trainny. So I go to the you know, the shops. I'm on the tripe bridge. They give me an old eighty mac. This thing looked like it was through the war. So I'm coming back. I'm driving over the triborough Bridge and I'm looking in the mirror and they see cars doing one of these. I'm like, what the hell, what the hell's going on?
Next?
Again, I got an empty fuel tank. The tank fell off the rig and landed in the middle.
How do you explain about right?
You know, you know, you you know. Could you call Battalian fourteen and tell him I'm stuck on the bridge? Is it was body of the beef? Yeah, what's the matter? I go, I lost my fuel tank. Silence, You mean you lost the fuel Yeah, it's in the middle of the triborough Bridge. By the way, we need Hasthma here too, because there's full fifty Catholics for four hours and turn around in the middle of the bridge and go back the other way. I'm like, and I'm sitting in the
tow truck. Are you gonna give me another piece of ship? I don't need that. We needed a rig six. He's at the shots. This thing is shot.
Me.
How many times did you go get a spare? And it was like you couldn't even believe you were going to drive away with that thing.
Piece of ship.
The cabinets closed, right, I mean the fucking you know person.
Nail nail and it wouldn't even close. You had to put a nail in the cabin.
You know, rolling down the street as you make it a turn. It was like horrendous.
We had to bring our America la France to the shops for the trany shot. So we get it there and I says, ah, it'd be about a week, all right. So the other choulver's driving it back, the other rig. So I go back. He says, the rig's ready. I go there. All the wood slats are taking out of the hose bed. I'm like, what is this? He goes, well, they you know, they we didn't have any extras, so some of the guys took it. What am I supposed to do?
I got way?
Am I gonna put the hose. So now I'm looking at it. Says, all right, that's it. I'm done. I started walking the hall. You know the shop it's huge, right, ye, another America of France. No hose in the bed, I says, I want a screwdriver and a set of sockets. He goes, what are you gonna do? You take my I'm taking his. So we took all the wood out. We put it back in the hose bed. Tighten it down, says see you. Oh the calls have got Oh my god, the chief is waiting for me on the ramp. What did you do?
He took my hose bed away? What am I supposed to do? Bring it back? We're gonna put the hounds on top of the cab.
How did you like that pro pressure governor as opposed to that the ross relief valve?
Remember it was like oh yeah, I remember, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, the Murder of France had it.
It was a lot easier, right, the prop pressure governor. You just hit that move you done it?
It's good? Yeah, yeah, it was. It was good.
The adjustment was fire proof.
The two stags pump was nice, ye, Murder of France, because you had or pressure yeah, right, you know the truck and we're working in Harlem. One day, they're up there, they're doing you know, you can see that. I'm giving them two hundred pounds, and so I altered. I tell I asked her the lit up there. You want to knock the bricks down, and you want to put out the fire? He goes, I want to knock the bricks down. Put it in volume, And I cranked that baby. After
three pounds. It looked like a laser beam going into the building. Yeah, that's good. You can see the We're flying everywhere in the chiefs and they go, what are you doing? They wanted they wanted pressure. I gave it to him. They had a good fire, and leave it, you know, leave it in pressure and just give them what they got. Yeah, two hundred and fifty pounds for the towel ladder.
Hey, guys, somebody somebody in the chat was asking, uh, did you weld the office's door shut?
Yeah?
Somebody out there dropping some bombs, I mean, some some information.
Mister John Giblin and uh that was his name, Kelly, Yeah, and Lieutenant Well, it was Lieutenant En. They were in the office and they were arguing and screaming, and the guys are like, that was going on in there? I go, I don't know. They're fighting around and I hear a chair get wrong. What the hell's going on? Had a piece of flat bar put it up against the door. Well did it shut? We get a run. The guys
are going, where is everybody? No worry, They're good. Let's go see jumps in the you know in the office. Seat off we went.
Come on.
What they had they had They had a scale, the whole scale, you know your movie at the bar. Yeah, boom boom, break the door going. I'm gonna get expended for this, so I gotta I got to cut the torch and I just cut the world right. They opened the door and we were like, they're sweaty there. It's like, what you do? I didn't do anything. We went on the run. You guys heard, wasn't me. They knew all the fighting they were doing that. We're afraid you've got
a fist the company there. But it was funny because that that later that night, uh uh Joe Kelly, Yeah, yeah, there was Joe Kelly and something goes You're a pistol. I thought that was the best thing that ever happened. All right, we won't do.
It anymore today you get charges.
On the streets.
Shure.
Yeah, we had everything. We had an incident one night. We come back from a run and all the locker doors you had, the old wooden lockers on the floor, the insert you know, all the doors are open. I'm like one of the windows in the bunk rooves, there's a there's a rope hanging down. The guy grappled from the building next door, grabbed the rope, climbed in. I don't know how many hundreds of dollars. So I'm sitting
there going, oh God. So I had broken my my wrist on a little incident at home, so I was I was going on like duty. So they told me. He got down to the got down to the you know, the chief. You know, see what like duty you'll give you. So get down there, and the chief I knew from I guess the rocket time. He goes, ah, mister Schneider, how are you, And they're going I'm good, I said, I mean for light duty. Where do you want to put me? I heard you had a robbery in the old firehouse.
I said, yeah, no fire house, said journey. Yeah.
He goes, yeah, you're going there for light duty, and are you gonna do any welding? Yeah? Probably, He goes, alight, I'll be over there and check it later on. Okay, went back to sixties. John Ray and I went out to the We had a steel mill down the block from eighty three, so we got all the angle lion, we got reebar, we got flat bar. We must spend four hundred dollars on you know windows that I was gonna bar up. So it worked. We it took me a couple of you know, a couple of days to
get it one, and we put one set in. We used the concrete Molly's bolted everything right into the brick wall. So now you ain't getting in there anymore unless you go to the third flom. By that time you might as well give up. So the bars are still there today, really there today.
Where did you learn the welding.
There was a welding, steel mill, a steel I guess a shop down on I'm trying to think now, hundred and forty first Street, all the way down to the river. Sure, going past eighty three and twenty nine, you just keep going and there's this big, huge building. Unfortunately hold the steer was made in Canada because they made sure they put Canada on everything there, and so we did. We loaded up the engine ring.
Where did you learn how to weld?
Oh? I was welder in the navy. Oh when I got in, I wanted to be a damaged controlman. But they combined the ship for the rates and the damaged control rate into a hull technician. So they did that while I was in boot camp. So I had to go to two different schools. So welding, you know, meg, tig, you name it, stick, We did everything. So what I did in the firehouse most of the time.
That's a great build man. There aren't enough welders there today.
Now. How do you know what they got into shops anymore? We had guys come in with you know, mailbox, broken mailbox four by fours. They come in with like a two inch you know, square doc of steel. Can you you make a plate? Put the mailbox? Like, yeah, that's no problem, make up something the next morning, it's done. But I had it. I had the shop in the basement and we had we had an old two thousand gallon gas tank gas that was never used, sitting in
the basement right down the bottom of the stairs. So you know, it was sitting there and I'm going, you got to get rid of this thing. It's in the way. In fact, they had to climb over it to get to the rest of the basement. So I had Tom Robi as my captain at the time. He comes in, he goes, what can you do? I'll cut it up and we can figure out what you want to do with it later. It took me two hours to cut this thing up. The last piece I had it was
actually on detention. Well it exploded, knocked me on my ass. Everybody was eating dinner here they all come down the stairs is black smoke everywhere. I got t splunt in half. So and you know, Robie goes, are you are riosis? Yeah? That was really interesting. I never had that happen to me. What're you gonna do with the pieces? So everybody's going, let's make a stove, Like, oh my god, a stove. We're gonna put it in the parking.
I'll do something with it.
This thing looked like Apollo eleven by the time it's high fur on it that you could you know, it could trap somebody in there and then we'll get out put the legs on it. We had it in pieces. We got it up to the apparatus floor, welded it up, put it out here you go. You can burn wood now in the parking lot. They it worked still there. No, they had they had a problem. I don't know. See, you got all new guys in there. Now they had one kid that knew how to weld more or less.
But uh, you know, they had to get rid of all that stuff because when they replaced the floor, everything had to go. So the parking lot was all packed up. I think the tower ladder was in there and the gate gated the fence, so everything spent. The other thing left is that engine sixty Maltie crossed.
Where did sixty go? And then did the floor over?
You were at eighty three. They were in the parking lot in eighty three.
Guys, we got a couple more pictures, don't we We have one show.
There's the flags, all right, give you the story. The old guys, the senior men used to go golfing a lot. So I come in one morning and there's, I said, the seventeenth hole. I guess they called it a pin was a pin was screwed onto the side of the rig and I'm going, what are you kidding me? You guys got a flag and get me one? Why didn't you get one with six on it? I could have put a zero on it. So anyway, they got the flag, so I that's the green one. I had one made up.
You can see it wow on the driver's side. I went through six of those flags while I was there, So down the truck is all pistol because their flag is smaller than our flag. So they wanted me to go get seventeen. And then the guys voted no in the truck, so I kept going with the flags. It worked. It worked there you go, what's that?
Do they still have one that's on? Now?
My left everything? Everything got lost? Good car with the third alarm in Harlem? The flag is up there. When I used to get up to you know any do, I used to always go to the first two engine, make sure they're all right, you got everything you need help? That was my act. I come back. There's some local white guy. He's trying to take the plastic straps off the Pole's standing on top of the cab trying to get the flag. I'm like, I'm looking at him. Who
cops are standing behind the rig. Yo, guys, I see you a minute, he says. See what he's doing. He says, yeah, what's that? He says, it's the flag for the engine. It's fire department property. Okay, So the one cop said one was a sergeant goes, excuse me, Sarah, what are you doing. Well, I'm taking the flag. I can use this as a souvenir. I'm gonna give you a souvenir. And he pulls out the handcuffs and wings them in the air. Will you arrest me? Yep. They put the
cuffs on them and they walk them back. So I'm sitting there, going now, I got to sit there, make sure. If I lose the flag, that's it. I'm done that. That was the one flag story. But a lot of fun for sure. That something always happened.
What makes you pack it?
And four well trade center. I couldn't pass my physical Ah, the lungs asthma. I got to sinus signs. I have no sinuses left. Three operations on my nose. Not a nice thing. You know. Everything's starting to go now, so.
Wow, that's like Louis, everything's time to go.
How old are you guy? How old are you.
I'm seventy two. Now, Wow, great, that's.
What I'm.
Are You still are still doing stuff in the volleys?
No?
I gave up on that once I hit a certain age. I said, you know what am I doing? You know? So?
What did you have a did you? Did you move up in the ranks in the volleys too or no?
Yeah? I was a captain in my company in Bablin Village. Then I got married and I had to move because the wife worked at Manorville and I worked at Babbling. We figure we find a place in the middle, so we moved to Holtzville right off the expressway, and she did hunting. I did mind. It lasted about two years and then we found this house that I'm in now. So we've been here for twenty four years.
Now.
Do you have any any sons?
Yep, three, two in the navy, one of the Marines.
Good for you. None of them want to be on the job.
What's that?
None of them want to be fineman.
My son's going in for his interview for the Fire Department. Good for you, tomorrow morning. He's going in tomorrow morning. He also applied for the PD. So we'll see what comes from I don't even know what that place is.
He did he I'm assuming he's gonna be fix the engine.
I know, somebody get you know, is.
He gonna go to sixty engine if he gets in?
Oh no, that's everybody. Everybody knew, My my youngest son, Garrett, you know, because but uh, it was funny one that I had two of my sons said all right, let's go get up there and use my rack and you know the extra rack. We got a third alarm in Harlem. They slept right through the thing. I tried to wake him up, you know, so we're out, we come back three hours later, they're still sleeping. What I'm waking them up? You're gonna be if you're gonna sleep to a run and.
A fire? No less you could have all right.
You ever sleep through a run?
Goddam No, I've gotten close though. Yeah, we can't run, you know, we can't rolling heavy, miss somebody you get away.
With being that fifth man or you know you're in ot and.
Yeah, they're rolling heavy as two guys.
Yeah, yeah, three guys are kind of the third guy.
You need him put that backup, gods that.
Yeah guy?
Yeah, asked you about his five ft wide broom for the prob's.
Oh yeah, my welding days.
Oh.
Jonathan Maritz Murmurts is now is in fourteen truck. I think he's a lieutenant anyway he gets uh, he comes in as a prob. Very good friend of mine. I've known him for years. And uh, guys who are complaining that bruins would break and everything else. So I took two of the the brooms, put a metal bar in between and one pole. So now if you swept, you had the two brooms doing the job, and then you know you're getting stuck into the rig and they need the tie. Guys, you know it worked.
It worked for a while, so you would have did that thing.
Bro It was heavy. The handle two brooms welded together and worked out real good.
Maybe you got anything else in that guy.
Before we get to the ollarpicks are gone.
No hold up before before that's my son.
He was scared of the light.
I mean scared of there because the lights are off.
We don't even you know it is that the guy that's getting on the job.
Yeah, he's going for Why.
Try that when you're on the job, bro.
He just got out of the navy. He had eight years there decided well.
You know, you know, you get it?
Yeah, you know. Yeah.
Hey, God, speaking of the navy, do you know what's long, hard and full of seamen? Not answering this submarine?
Hey hey guy, are you are you teaching around the Are you doing anything?
Yeah?
That are doing that?
What's that?
Why are you doing that? At one point or no? Teaching writ inhouse here.
In middle Place. You know, I taught the guys you know, how to drive, you know, drills and everything else. You know, it's a lot of stuff in the city.
I got you drive it like you stole it.
Yes, that's the way I do it. You know.
I like this guy. I knew I like this guy.
You're gonna have one arm out the window because that's what I used to do.
And you fast you go.
We had rainy day. Truck was coming down one hundred and thirty eighth. We're coming down Willis Avenue, and the poor lieutenant was like, you gotta slow down. The truck's coming. Yeah, they'll see, just don't worry about it. Well, the truck hit the brakes. I hit the brakes, slid sideways, and we pa some you know, with the front end, and we're waving to the I got it back in again, and we kiss go off the guys to show up
for the truck. I think I shopped my pants. We get to the scene, it's like, damn it, I think I did something. Rolled down. Yeah, yeah, I had to do it.
I ain't no stranger to it.
A lot of fun driving, it's a lot more.
We've had a couple of moment I know, I've had a couple.
Yeah, coming back from a run of something and I'll be like, put those lights on, dude.
You.
Got something brewin, let's go.
I'm not gonna make it. Get on it.
So I'll give you a quick story. One day. Blaze right a buddy, Blaze, all right. He's in the back seat I'm driving. He's like, dude, you gotta hurry up. I gotta take a ship. So now, previously hitting every single light on the way back to the firehouse, we're about four blocks firehouse, four blots and files. The door swings open, flying running towards the firehouse.
Dude, unless you've been on the rig, like you know, dude, it's been I've been like that at a job, you know what I mean, Like you're in a job all of a sudden something happened, right, oh yeah, we had some.
Good job old five story and we're sitting there, were going down the hallway knocking down fire and all of a sudden we hear was that? I going, what's going on? We opened up the door. It's the bathroom. The battalion ads sitting on the toilet. What are you doing? I had to go on that. I had to go go.
My god, you gotta go, you gotta go. Everybody has done something.
Poop stories are always funny. You never go roll with poop stories, bro. Yeah, yep.
Anyway, we uh halfway into my U sixty edgine there we decided a lot of guys. I used to I still smoke cigars, don't ask me why we brought it. And I used to buy your box and everybody, oh, heck, can we have one? Yeah? Yeah, So my five cigars are gone within an hour, So I go listen, guys, everybody wants this gar Why don't we go out and get a cigar box and we'll get I'll get the cigars. Yeah right, that's great. They bought this four hundred dollars
cigar box. This thing was like, you know, two feet long. By another foot and a half and I could put three hundred cigars. He how much you'd think I'm gonna get? Oh, we'll get your box. And they gave me three hundred dollars. So I went out and I bought three hundred dollars worth of cigars. They had different ones. Guys are different. We got a new captain. I don't think I mentioned his name right now. Anyway, he comes in and with with you know, walking to the engine office, he goes, oh, oh, oh,
is that a cigar box? This is yeah, cap it's you know, something that men have. It's the only place that could put it. When I'm getting ripped off. I hate cigars, I really do. Oh nice to know. Okay, well, I'll make sure you know.
Let us know.
He goes out, goes home. The next night he comes in his first night tour. Half hour before he gets there, fourteen of us grab a cigar, close the engine door, and we puffed. You couldn't see from your knees up all right, you know, a sudden you know, we hear a little fell and caps coming in. Let's go. We opened, you know, we close the door. We go back in the city cause away. So we didn't know we were smoking. He comes in and goes, hey, guys, how you the
guy was I'd be a very nice guy. He comes in, he goes, oh, how you going, guys, I'll be in the engine office. We hear the door but and he goes, come.
On, guys, what's the what's the worst thing? He could tell a bunch.
Of men like, look, I don't like, I don't like. All right now, probably we'll have every single time you work.
James, just call me Jimmy.
Yeah, all right, all right, we do again like that? Right? Oh, actually it was the other way around. His name was James. He wanted to be called James. Don't call him Jimmy, remember, all right, all right Jimmy. All right, god, I think it might be that time if we have the more pictures?
Is it that time?
Oh? First we gotta do uh, I will do it afterwards, we'll do that.
Well, okay, we're gonna do it. It's time for.
Oh good, James, take it away, my friend. Okay, alright, know you knew people coming into the fire apartment, male and female. Always get and find out who the senior man is. He's got to know more than all of you put together. He knows what's going on. He will help you. He will sit down with you and give you the rules of the road and what the firehouse is. You've got to do it. Don't ever back up and say you know what you're talking about. He knows what
he's talking about. He could be in his cups and he still knows what he's talking about. Yeah, believe you got to know who we go to. There's plenty of people out there that know all their stuff. They've been two more fires and you'll ever probably see in your life. That's my word of the day.
There, you go, right, very nice?
All right, you guys get I don't know if I'm in my cups.
Some people don't know what that means.
Cops.
Oh my ye, I'm telling you he has some young kids in there. Now, it's amazing.
I got those health and safety tip all right, here we go.
The First Responder Center for Excellence is a not for profit organization dedicated to protecting the lives and livelihoods of first riskponders. Their education and research initiatives aim to bring greater awareness and understanding the challenges to the health, safety, and well being of firefighters, EMS, personnel, and other first responders too. They are an affiliate of the National Falling Firefighter Foundations.
All right, so I'm gonna read one off here that we got from them, and I'm gonna say one. So there are many simple Note Coast steps firefighters can take to manage their risk of cancer, such as cleaning your helmet, especially the inside liner. I'm gonna tell you another one that I got for myself. My brother just called me today, although he's not a fine and it will pertain to finement. So he called me and he had gone for one
of those what are those calcium scores? I just went for mine actually, so he gets it back and it's not good. It's not it's not what was yours, Louis? Was your your blockage was.
What one, one, seventy or something like that?
Yeah, block what percent blockage did you have when you went for six or sixty? So his is up there close to that. But the thing is, uh, you don't have You didn't have any symptoms, right, you didn't feel terrible at all? Right, neither, He's like, I feel fine. So that's why it's so important to go get these tests, bro, because if you don't know what's going on, you don't know what's going on, and it might be too late. You know, you might get a clog, or you might
get something and have a heart attack. So it doesn't cost much. Go get the all the testing that you need, especially to fight apartment, because they offer it for free. My brother had to pay out of his pocket, but for fire fighters that stuff is free.
Calcium scores is the key one.
Like all these other these other tests, like the stress test and all this other stuff, it's good, but it's not it's not giving you the true The calcium score is the one you want to know, and that is more expensive, and that's why they don't really do it.
Uh so, but they will do it every couple of years.
I gotta get on it.
You gotta get it done because you don't want to get caught. You know.
The Will Trade Center annual usually does all blood.
Work correct, right right, but they don't do the calcium score. You gotta do the calcium score. You got to check the karate arterie. There's a whole bunch of other ones because you may not feel you might feel great, but you may have that clock like Louis had. You know, he had he waited and not gone to Rob Brown, who knows maybe he would have been had a bad clam and a bad heart. Who knows especial.
Family history like me. I just went from mine, uh came back loves were fourteen, but I still had it done and it's uh pay attention to it now.
Yep. See do you have any mustache grooming tips? You want to throw up all out.
Once a week? Yeah? Uh swallowing it is nothing grows here anymore.
Tell me about it. Yeah.
Yeah, when you well, you get you get a little extra like a hamp sandwich at the end of the week.
Everything that's catting it, having a beer or something like that, it gets.
The whole thing is coming off tomorrow and that's it. I'm going to the guy tomorrow.
What shaving it up?
Coming off? Baby? Fresh?
You're shaving yours off.
Record?
Oh, Gunzo, please pull up that one. Not I gotta I gotta say that. It's in the Let me get it. You have, I got it, Come see me and Louis and will be there. There'll be a lot of great firefighters, a lot of great f d n Y guys. The twenty twenty five Long Island Metro Fire Expo. It's at the Nassau Coliseum. We may or may not be drinking in the booth. Probably may is a good bet. And the also doing the what's the book that they came out with any Potter and the other guy that we're
in uh in New York. They're gonna have a booth so you could uh get if you purchased that book, you can get it signed by the guys that will be there. I think they're actually going to bring all the guys from the book down there. So go on down and see us and maybe guile join us. We have a couple of shots with guys if you want, Yeah, come on and see us. There you go, and that's it. Guy, Thanks so much, man, I.
Really enjoyed you accepting me here.
Oh anytime, tell your son, man, come on, we don't miss runs anymore. We don't do that. No, mom is in run schnids.
No, it's too dark.
I don't know.
I don't know what we got next week, but we'll have something. We got a lot of other good guests coming.
Up, so keep track of everybody.
So there you go, fella. Thank you for your service too. Man, I appreciate your service, and your boys too, and the boys the Marine the Navy. Guys, excellent stuff, Ganzo, thanks for coming your head tonight. You look wonderful. Appreciate it. We got a new shirt that's out. Rough right, what is it? My fighting is like? How does it go again? Rough?
Riding a bike, riding your hair is on fire, everything, everything.
It's actually pretty funny. So we should have it on the website tomorrow. We would definitely have it with us, have it at the show. And that's all coliseem correct, all right, guys.
All right, good enough, guys, thanks a lot, Thanks guys, thank you very much. Thank you.
See you again. You know right, stay low and go guys.
All right, everybody, we'll see it the big one. Thank you again. Guy.
All right, guys, see the top floor or maybe at the command post. We'll see you
