GETTIN' SALTY EXPERIENCE PODCAST Ep.244 | FDNY FF JIM AMANN

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, that's right, Hello, look Berg back in the chat, Mary don Oyle key to Jess. Oh pee wee regulars QCs.

This's a new guy in the chat too. How do you say that?

Name? Is Procaccini's husband?

Correct spoken on the phone of me, missus Procaccini's husband. Oh yeah, how did he get told? These periods podcasts? Do you know which one? Well, we had a guy out here a couple of weeks ago says he was the fires But this is the only one that brings the fire hous kitchen table to you. Guns.

Yeah, for sure we made that guy's day. Believe it or not, you get put.

He's doing a good job. Yeah, yeah, he's doing good.

When you'll be filling in for you? What is that trips? No trip up soon.

O x A on the filling now x A on the how's uh mikey doing?

And were on the you know, I remember that guy with that who is that.

Velvet the velvet voice, velvet voice you when you got college?

I have some I mean we can find him. What do we have of of Mike? Yeah, you must be out your goddamn man. Oh no, it's a different guy.

He's too smoking.

He said that to the drill. He must have said that to the drill instructor when the guy told him, you know, like the push ups.

Sweating like a female.

Sweating like Mike Tyson to the third grade spelling. I was heard at work today, Yes, he was. You don't even check.

Into the track.

He's busy guy.

He was there.

He was definitely what the hell is my Uh yeah, you're not prepared. No, not prepared.

Yeah, you have a hat on the head.

Well that's what it. Darn the freeze was saying, no guy digging trenches all day today doing trench rescue. A little shout out to the yeah, Martin County people.

Martin County shot out that Mountain County guys out. There was a shout back Sabrina company.

They said they were gonna watch, but I don't know what I don't see that. We'll see I.

Don't see it the shot, we'll see you smoke up yours. I don't know, and you didn't. You didn't dig no trench today. The chief doesn't dig trenches. Bro, Bro, you know I was my hand with a machine.

Oh by hand? Man what he pointed, pointed the trench went.

Are you buying out of this? Because I'm I'm calling bullshit right here? Bull ship, You didn't dig no trenches?

No? Oh yes, I did that.

You used it.

Yeah, you use a nice little back home, buddy, of course.

You used the back home. You didn't take my hand.

Nod's still taking it. I'm still digging it.

Take it by hand? Yes, by hand?

Ten foot trench. He's gonna dig by hand?

I said, you didn't dig it by hand? Did you use the machine? You said? Of course by hand?

Well, I want to see whats's paying attention? So by hand?

Oh?

Really?

I hope them a motherfucker hands hands? Yeah, this hand, this is my hands.

It's old. You know, it's all the hydraulics.

You know, what do you hydraulically play? The next commercial? Bro? How about that? How about eleven?

No?

Stop?

No? No, how about what we don't do any of that ship all right. Let's look.

My little Italian Buddies. Commercial bro have a free giveaway at Indy, so we'll have details on that once he sends it to me.

Let's see what we get there.

We go.

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Let me tell you why I should call my little buddy Vince right number one rough right. He's trustworthy, he gives you a good deal, he gives your ship for free, get the free logo, and his workmanship is class a bro. He's a great guy, so Cale, Vince, will you who's not buying in indye the who let reboart list? He owes us right?

Oh what does that say?

The giant dude by a shrip?

You ain't You ain't fucking kidding? Those sticks are monstrous, man.

Yes, all right, let's play the next commercial really quick and there will be uh right into It'll.

Be twenty three seconds quick. Here we go go.

The First Responder Center for Excellence is not a profit organization dedicated to protecting the lives and livelihoods of first responders. Their education and research initiatives aim to bring greater awareness and understanding the challenges to the health, safety, and well being of firefighters, EMS, personnel, and other first responders too. They are an affiliate of the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation.

All right, you have got to believe this tip.

You're ready.

This actually does go on though on the fire service. I know you guys love the job, right, do me a favor, and you're gonna tell me I'm crazy that this doesn't never happens. Don't get yourself fixed up or have surgery on your own time. You know who I'm talking about in general here roof, but there's plenty of guys who do it. I can name about five guys who go and take care of things on their own time. If you get hurt on the job, go out sick,

That's what you gotta say about that. I'm right, jim He's it. And here he goes. He's staring at the camera. He's waiting for his shot.

All right, do it ready?

Here we go, coming to the stage f d N y one fifty four. Jimmy, ammon, there it is an opening day for baseball today.

Just is it? They win?

That's lost, yank.

Nobody cares about the Mets.

I'm about to throw you out right out of here, bro, that's what's let's before we jump. Jimmy's a Korea. Good, let's do this. Let's say, bro, let's get patriotic.

You play the two is all right, Here we go.

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.

Welcome to the show. Jim, Jim's got a little he's near and the end of my heart roough right, you know because he worked with my brother, the rug that's right, nearly departed brother. And I'm sure you got plenty of rug stories, bro. You also probably work with Steve right, yes, oh yeah, I gotta catch it for white sox.

Uh no, no, he was Uh.

Maybe he gave you a pass because you knew the Rug. I don't know.

You never stayed in our house that long because if Steve Ferring.

Was working, oh my god.

He's working. Your brother just turned around when you said what he had to say.

The left. Well, you must have seen him too, because you got there in eighty one. I don't drop in ahead, but he was in probably what thirty eight at that time.

Yes, yeah, so you.

Got him on the whole lo of like a suck all. You got him. He got him as a deputy. Yet he was there, he is on c.

Was like a like a chiaha.

Sorry, I think your brother would brother find the opening shots at Steve and uh at Farring and Steve fired right back and part of the whole he was.

He was, Well, let's go back before that. Let's start out where where to grow up? With neighborhood you're from? What made you become a fireman? All right?

I grew up in the town Albertson and went to Herek's High school. Uh, volleys, mostly, mostly did gymnastics, did a little wrestling my cousin. It's originally my whole life. I wanted to be a cop.

Oh oh, we just we need to stop them.

But my cousin, my cousin let lived was down, doesn't slap chip. So he got me to join the volleys with him because would be funny. I joined the volleys and I got I got someone in with Tony.

Sorry, yeah, wow, oh wait, hold on, hold on here, wait, let's you mention Tony. We need to do this version.

We got to this classic sorry teller. Then oh my god, look, wow.

He's getting ready to go plow some snow.

Or something else.

You know. Well, wow, Alan goes back. I wonder if he's in the chat today. He'll see this.

So he was crazy about the job at that time too. How you guys were both for the job like right away.

Yeah, so there's there was a bunch of guys from the Elvson Valleys that were in the City City FD. So yeah, growing up, I didn't know. I didn't know anybody in the fire department. I knew a lot of cops, so that's you know, I figured i'd be a cop. But once I got in the volleys, it was like, well, let me start taking fire department tests.

And so it was your cousin already on the job, but he was taking the test too.

No, no, he uh he went another way. Yeah, well he actually went he actually became a cop, and then he transferred over to the fire department in West Hartford, Connecticut. Oh so he retired out of West Hartford.

Oh so he had to slap you. And then he went and became something else.

And then I got I got hired for I said, I took civil service tests all over. I got hired hired by I'll passo City PD. I turned, I turned them down. And at the same time I got hired, well, I got uh they were going to hire me in Fairfax County Fire and Rescue. But at that time, uh, my parents were getting divorced, so I kind of wanted to stay around.

I didn't.

I didn't want to go out of town until that we got settled. So I called up Fairfax and I asked him if I can postpone to the next class, and they called, it's not proby school down there, it's rookie school. So I got in the next class, and then uh, then I heard the city fire department was starting to hire. My list number was coming up. So I got called for Nasau County Corrections and uh, thank heavens, that was only a nine month nine month job.

And how long was there academy there?

What the Fairfax h Correction Corrections It was weird. They split in my class in two and one half did the corrections class first, and they put us out into the floors working with the regular correction officers. That I was. We kind of we kind of learned the job the way it's done and not not just by the book when you go to the going to school.

What was that like like doing that being out there in the population.

It really wasn't that much fun. Not many of the people in there were actually uh sorry for what, you know, they were more sorry that they got caught instead of uh, you know, I think I'm only interacted with one guy who actually he was in the jew jewvie section that yeah, he screwed up, got caught, and it would probably be the last time. You haven't he ever did anything you know against you know, breaking the law whatever. So but everybody else.

Right, you come in.

Back all the time, like, uh.

Well, one there was there was one guy that I forgot his name. He was in there for murder. He murdered He murdered a girl in a bog with the axe and yeah, I hope not at the time californ he was also wanted in California for a murder out there, and California at the time still had a death penalty, and so they they were going to ship him out to California. I had a trap. I had to go down four flights and an elevator with him and three other inmates by myself. So I was I was a

But you have to slap some wrestler moved down on those guys and what not really out. No, it was.

The one thing you wanted, like you had a routine there and they were. They were as a as a privilege. They had what was called a late night. So it' like there was a basketball game on or a football game, baseball game or whatever. They were allowed to stay out of their cells for you know, until the game was over. So if if you kind of didn't want to have have to do that from the offices end, you would it was it was, it was kind of it was a fun thing to do, but it was it really

Kind of think that morals grow out the door as soon as you walk into that place.

Worry about what was interesting too. There was there was actually a full blown riot there when I when I was working that the news didn't know about. Never never made the news, that the whole the whole place. He said, nothing, right, yeah, yeah, but any uh any and.

You do frame stories.

Zarrow world, it's like world. Some of them. I probably couldn't even tell tell on.

That's crazy job. That's job.

Hey, Jim, was Frankie Frankie mccotton. You remember it was Frankie mccotton work. I remember he was corrections, wasn't he. Frankie mccotton was once seventeen.

Do you remember him. I think he was.

I don't think. I don't think we were there at the same time.

Oh no, no, no, he was New York. You're right, he was.

It was New York.

Jim was.

Yeah.

The one thing, the one thing I do remember, I was talking with one inmate. They and they transferred back and forth. Plus they're not penitentiaries, so you know, they go into court or they may go to the court in the city. They had to get transferred over to Rikers and the the one inmates said they they'd rather be in Rikers Island than Nassau County Jail. We were

Doing it.

It was pretty scary. You know, so you have you have hundreds doing it wrong. Yeah, Stephen, but you.

Get the call o the FD. It must have been caught wheels bro right.

Yeah, absolutely, yeah it was. Yeah I could. Yeah, I would have definitely would have been divorced if I stayed stayed in the I was, I had, I had one. And years years later, you know, we were talking about my time at the jail and he goes, yeah, you know you would, you would turn into a real shithead, you know, you would. You know, it was, uh, I was actually probably makes you angry.

You're angry.

What happens a lot of times what happened is something happens in one of the floors. They'll alert all the officers and all right, we're having trouble on B floor or whatever, and so the extra guys working on the floor would go up to that floor to try to contain what was going on. So basically you're going up there just.

With your hands.

There's yeah, you know, there's no you don't have night sticks, you don't have anything else. So you're basically going up there to fight. And so you know, you're getting ready to go fight. So you're getting your adrenaline. Adrenaline up, and then you get there and they see this twenty or thirty officers there that that got to kick the ship out of them and they got to go to the hospital. So then they stop. So now you're there all hyped.

Up, you know, and I know you're to beat anybody out right.

And that happens almost every single tour of your work. So it's like, you know, you go out to a bar and somebody bumps into you.

Oh man, never liked you, yeah.

You know, and it's so it's uh yo yo, And I asked you. I asked my how come you never told me I was afraid. I was afraid you did me or something, you know. That was that was I'm glad I got to do it. But that's I wouldn't recommend that job to anybody.

I bet you, I bet you appreciate b I.

Oh yeah, b I. We're still trying to figure out what that is. We don't really want to.

We're getting a fist fight tussle with some low life uhs thirteen guy, Yeah, eight tear drops on his face. Yeah, Christ, you get the call? Uh and what what it was? Eighty one?

Yes, September September fifth, eighty one got swanned down a city hall like three. It was like three hundred and twenty three or whatever it was.

In the class any notables, it's.

Probably a whole shipload of him. Yes, I don't. I never really followed the careers of everybody, but uh, I said, two guys on my from my squad passed on nine to eleven. Jimmy Jimmy a motto. Uh Jimmy motto is yeah he was. He was two people down from me on my on my left, and then Vinnie Hallerin was on on the other side of me.

He passed fifty four to Jimmy.

Yeah.

Well, Jimmy Jimmy came on. When we graduated, five of us went to three oh seven one fifty four. So I went, I went to the truck. Jimmy Motto, Kevin Kelly, uh Ritchie Toshak, and Evan Kelly and Frank Tyrell went to the engine. So Frankie Tyrell came over to the truck. Eventually Jimmy Motto came over to the truck. The other two stayed in the engine.

And it's so funny as you say they're named, all I can think about is this stupid nickname. My brother had for them. They all had nicknames over there right. Oh yeah, yeah, I don't have like a tick.

Oh I was waiting for the time to bring in that stash.

Eighty point star. Yeah, eighties point star.

That's number to eighty.

Huh oh wait, sorry.

That's the thing to eighty.

Jimmy Jimmy a.

Models badge number was two seventy seventy eight and on on the the list of our graduating classes, alphabetically, my name's in front of it is before his, but on the listening from proby class his was the head of mine. So he got he got I was supposed to get. I guess two seventy eight. He was supposed to get to eighty. But the way it worked out.

Uh somebody it wasn't too smart.

Who took all the bottom.

But he was The motto was was was blinky right because he.

Had a head.

He had like a like a TWIGT Kelly was right big. Then kil built the final named him the Wrinkler. He was like a super villain because everything on him was rink.

What's fun is man?

So he would open his locker or he would open his locker. All the none of the clothes was hanging on the on hangers. It was all just fronted, so everything was wrinkled. His money was just shoved in his pocket. So he pulled out his money and it was like an unwrinkled so.

Wrinkler that is.

There was some funny names there, bro, I mean.

What was yours? What was yours?

Well, initially before my accident, it was it was it was right when the Police Academy movies came out, and uh, who's the guy? The guy had the guns all the time.

That was, oh, oh ship, somebody need a chattel.

Though, we're talking about the TV show, the movies, Police Academy Movies. Berry Tackle Tackleberry tackle Bear the old time is nicknamed me Tackleberry for a little while. And I was the only one in the in the house that actually went you know that hunted or you know, so I was big and you know I'm still big into the firearms and stuff like that. So they would always called me Tackleberry.

Now, when you guys became the Northern Knights, didn't you get all nightly names too? Yeah?

Well, well my brother no no night names. But uh let's say yeah, yeah, your brother with the rug he was it looked like like like a Roman like Greek Greek god type thing so called. I started calling yeah, I started calling him testicles.

That there after you though?

Right?

Was that he came there after you?

Right?

My brother?

When he coming like eighty do what is it? Did eighty?

I got a book here, a centennial book. When did Richie come on? That's that's a mansine?

Okay, dingle Berry's Tackleberry.

Somebody's been Tackleberry, Tackleberry.

Yeah.

Cubla BITCHI coubla January twenty sixth, nineteen eighty.

Four, eighty four. He came out there, you go, so all right, not too far after you?

Nope, So how did you get the thumbs? What was the story thumbs?

That was in the volleys? I was on on the racing team, and uh, we're doing yeah, well we were. We were out of practice and we were doing probably the least dangerous dangerous event.

It was.

Just hose efficiency. Basically, you start with three uncoupled two and a half inch lines and there's a target down down range. Quickly connect him and how fast you can you get it. I was a hydrant guy back at my volley house. That was the first couple of guys. So yeah, the idea is you know, you get your back twist the hose a little bit so it goes

The thumb a little bit of a glove.

Yeah, that's that's a degloving injury.

Yeah.

So they take me to uh Long Ound Jewish hospital and they had they had a surgeon come in and uh he said, I'm either got to wake up with my hand. My hand did a cast that way because the piece came off fully intact. Because they yeah, they found it because it sailed. It sailed about thirty feet or so away from me. But the guys saw something something go that way, and so they followed. You know, they went over there, they picked it up.

It's like a scavenger hunt.

So the doctor said, you'll wake up with your you know, you're handing the cast. That means we were able to reattach Uh. And then plan B was, you'll wake up with your hand attached to your body somewhere. So that I woke up, I was, I was attached like this, So I got I got like a scar running from here to here where they.

Took the ground, took the skin over there.

Yeah.

Yeah, so I was in I was like this in the middle of summer for over a month. And once when they when they cut me loose literally you know, well there's there's a thumb. Now the thumb was about like that big with all the extra meat. And this is the result of five surgeries, how eleven months. That's why, that's why I never abused medical leaf, because I you know, I took advantage of it. I was, I was off for eleven months, no problem, so you know, and a lot of I take advantage of it.

But like I'm when I tell you it's your turn to tap out because we need some over time tonight, like that kind of ship. That's why I wasn't.

Light like that, but I said I it helped me having having that unlimited set time, and it's probably one of the best things we have in the fire department.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you wouldn't get that fixed on your own time, right, No, I knucklehead would.

Well that was I was I was.

I was covered under I was covered under their workman's camp right.

Yeah.

So I just got off probation when it happened. Whoa, Yeah, so you came back and you need Yeah, and that's that's how I got the nickname Thumbs.

Yeah. Yeah, it's a brutal man.

I never knew that story, believe it or not. Yeah, I didn't know.

That that racing was lethal.

You know.

That used to be like on ABC Sports.

That racing.

Yeah yeah, yeah. They tried, they tried getting it into other states. They used to They used to have drills, you know, like show drills in Pennsylvania. You know, they go to different places in Pennsylvania to see if they can get it started. You know, a bunch of teams would go down and have have the full the full race race thing and hull. Yeah, never never caught on. It's it's expensive. There's not hardly any Well, there's still a lot of companies that do it, but it's it's big dollars.

You know.

Basically, you got you got two drag cars. You got to maintain.

I'm gonna say the fastest backstep you'll.

Have a be on bro Oh yeah, did you ever watch it? Rough? You can find it on YouTube.

Yeah, the agony feet of the Thumb, The Agony of the Thumb.

That I was at one state tournament and I remember it was the c rate going down. I think was we see hose and the guy the guy hit his first you know, his stop mark for the hydrant. The guy in the backstep flew over the rail in front of the re attire and the drive of guns and runs on the Oh, you didn't get hurt that bad, but you know they still took him to the hospital. It's fun stuff.

I gotta ask you this, Jim, this is a question, out of the five of you who went to the firehouse, who took the pressure off of who?

We say, let's say the first one again, out of.

The five guys, five of you guys went five probies to the firehouse. Who took the pressure off?

Everybody was?

It was good good crew.

All right, so that's good.

Then, well you have all completely different personalities, you know, so I'd say we were all we were the first ProBiS there probably in for like five years, so we probably all kind of you know, it took took the same you know, it was good that a lot of us went there.

I was going to say that takes a lot of ship spread The.

Ship was spread out amongst five of us, you know, just going there. You know one guy and you know he gets the pull the ship on him. So but it's that Jimmy Model. I forgot when Jimmy and Model came to the truck. But it wasn't I'd say maybe right after Proby probably, you know, it's Proby period was over.

So how did you get to go to the truck? You know somebody?

Uh, Well, I had you know, I had the Fairfax, the Fairfax County experience. So I had three you know, almost three years under my belt from there already.

So he was there for three years in fairfact.

Yeah, yeah, from like seventy like March of seventy eight to it was like the middle of December of eighty I came up. That's when I started the corrections.

Gig.

You catch any good work over there a fair fact.

Yeah, we caught a few good for there was a lot of It was weird down there they do when you come out of Proby School you were actually an E M T also, so they run I.

Think they do it.

They do. They do that ambulance things better than New York City does, because we took we took that whole thing on and it was it's still really not straightened out right yet, but down there they h it really sucks righting right in the ambulance all the time, but there's some guys that really like it. So they authored

Did the guys in what fifty four or what three or seven know that you were from Fairfax? Did they know that?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. So uh but now, originally I was I was going to be assigned to one seventeen. I can't think of that. And the guy that caused a lot of trouble in your firehouse ship, but that was his name.

He's the guy.

He the guy who guy who kicked kicked the one guy in the balls and and punched the proby out.

Or something like that, refractable because he got he.

Actually got fired from the job eventually, and he's uh he was no, no, no Lions Lions.

Oh oh yeah, Bobby Lyons. I think it was Bobby Lions. Bobby. Yeah, he wasn't there when I got there. He was already out. Yeah.

I had the hook. I had the only firehouse I knew was, you know, going to the rock and see looking up off the Parkway and see the fire Sawyer Boulevard South. And my cousin was a Port Authority cop and so I was talking to him, and his partner was Flood's son, Captain Flood's son. So my cousin talked to you know, you know, talk to talk and went to Captain Flood and uh Lions went actually to the firehouse and introduced himself, and he was a sports guy.

So so the Lions walked in. He says, I'm a good softball player in the basketball and you came in.

And I think he lived.

He went to the neighborhood, and so it's ah, but I think I got the better end of the deal.

So what did they, Jim?

Were they Were they running around a lot in eighty one when you got there? Were they the winding trucks running around?

No?

Not like not like later on.

No, he's got he's got the numbers right there?

Rough what Yeah, I got the numbers. Hold on a minute, let.

Me let me go to the book.

I had to be doing five thousand.

Yeah, I think the busiest all right here it is, uh so eighty one, eighty one twenty twenty five hundred perfect that's that's the engine. That's the engine.

Oh, oh my god, even better.

Before you see, so if I can find it.

Steve Weisman eighty one.

Uh, we're doing thirty thirty eight thirty eight, one hundred.

Runs in eighty one still a lot, yeah yeah, uh and.

We got up. We peaked out at uh six thousand and seven. Yeah, I was ninety two.

Wow.

Yeah, we stayed like I got your one thousand, five thousand runs.

And I think now, I.

Think my first year there in ninety three, in nineteen ninety three, we did fifty five hundred runs. We were going you were going to a lot of pull boxes too. I mean we were going to but there was a lot of I felt like I was catching work. When did you feel like in your whole career not to jump around? What was the busiest time?

Well, that that that period in the nineties that we were you know, we were doing five.

It's felt like you were going to work all the time.

I swear like you guys, we would go to Wolf fifty four a lot, man, there was one.

I remember they were going to a lot of work, man, like a couple one period.

I don't I don't know what year it was, but it's start. You know, usually it gets busy, like before Christmas, everybody starts putting their heating systems on and putting up the candles and all that shit.

There was.

There was a stretch from the middle of December all the way to the summer where almost every single tour you worked, You went to work, you caught a job, sometimes two, sometimes three, you know, in a twenty four and everybody was catching on one thirty eight, one thirty six. You guys won sixty three. So I think that time was probably the best time as as a whole, because everybody was sharp, everybody, everybody was on their toes. Uh, everybody, you know, being that we're you know, going here and

Job heavily populated over there, mean the Spanish community that is, you.

Know, I think you think got h all over the place. H is they got a building, but they have a huge area.

Yeah, we don't really. We didn't really have any brownstones. We had some brownstone types down there at the hospital. We didn't really have to have any projects over there, right, No, none, none at all, thank Evan's none.

Right, that's what I said. They don't even have anything.

Yeah, we did. We had one, I think one building over seven stories maybe including the hospital. We had the hospital, but really didn't have high rise Left Rock City. We went down to Left Rock City a lot, so that was that was kind of like a high rise down there. But my first job, oh, I had no idea. I don't, I don't remember.

You remember your first job?

Not really that guy now that was Funker Gear. That wasn't even that was ninety five. After ninety five yeah, mhm, oh.

Wow, you look like a baby dare for God's sake, and you already had what happened.

Yeah, but what was what was nice about that time frame was like being we had so much work. It's like just coming into work. It wasn't yo, if we're going to get a job tonight, it's it's just when we're going to get a join. So you're already you know, you're already in that in that we're got to catch work mode. So you were, yeah, you know, you went to work. You made sure your gear was right, you went over the rig, you made sure all the tools were good. You know what you should be doing anyway,

You had to spare a botty timing in ninety three, transmitted five second alongs in three months.

Yeah, and and there you go. He like Dan is probably one of the best lieutenants on the job.

I'll suggesting once it like you guarantee doing a drill that night.

Oh, absolutely, and a big drill.

Yep. I was sitting at the table reading something. You were doing something.

It starts, the drill starts at A and you're working your way to B, but it jumps to Z and then it goes to M and then eventually you wind up that B again.

But it's uh, oh boy, office is there?

And uh when I first got there, let's see, I had Lieutenant Howie Kennedy he was, he was a Gordon Bennett winner.

Uh.

I think the year previous when I got there.

Wow.

Uh, Joe donnad Telly.

He was.

He flew in B seventeens in World War two damn yes, and then I and it was Lieutenant Goodman. He was and his name, his name was a perfect description to him.

He was.

He was a perfect gentleman the whole time. And it was Captain Cochera. He had old, old old school guy, had had twenty years as a captain in one fifty four. Woow, he lived in He lived in Corona. That yeah, he lived in Corona just about twenty. I think it was like nineteen plus years. He lived in Corona. And he walked to the firehouse every day.

So Corona was shit. Yeah.

Wow.

It was a big yeah Italian neighborhood, you know.

So it was yep, wow.

You know, there were good bosses to learn from.

And uh, when do you go to show for school?

Eighty eighty six?

I believe.

When eighty six?

And how'd you like.

Driving? Is all right?

I liked it.

So one of my first first details to drive was to one seventeen and.

Can't be good.

I was gonna say earning garbage cans involved or anything. We always got to bring those garbage cans in here somehow, but.

We got we got relocated to Manhattan, which I had no I have no idea you know the streets of Manhattan. But Dan knows almost every street in the city because I think he's worked on on pools every place in the city.

So he knows everything. That man knows everything.

Yeah, and the thing in the firehouse was you don't you don't drive Dan, you steer him because he just sell you go here. But yeah, him, that's perfect.

It was good.

You know, he had He had a certain way to get into a story that uh, you know, you're keep in your back of your mind all these all these maybe they're not short cuts, but a lot of times the b q wee was was backed up or was shut down for whatever reason. And now if you used to go into one, you know, getting to like one seventeen the same way all the time you get shut down, you oh sure we'll go this, We'll just go this way instead.

So he, you know, it was he was.

He was a good boss to have.

You learned.

You learned a lot of stuff from him.

Jimmy, what, Jimmy, what were those objects in the rearview mirror when you were driving?

The objects?

Yeah, what were the objects? And those were the objects? What are they? What units? What vehicles? What are they? Are they behind you in the rearview mirror.

Oh second, it was.

Kindly we after one of our shirts, trying to slide it in there.

But I think he Jim. I remember I worked h a detail and uh uh he was working.

And I think it was at night or getting right around maybe seven eight o'clock or something like that. I don't know if I said this when he was on the show, but like what I remember, we were we were driving and like you remember when they they used to dig up the road, they used to put those metal plates on the roads. Right, something happened where the plate was like cock eyed a little bit. I mean the hole wasn't open, but it was cock eyed something.

It was awful.

Next thing, you know, we were like off the truck and got you know again, I would have never even thought about that, you know what I mean. I don't remember what we did, but we started doing somethinagling to.

Put it back.

Yeah, it's a dan was the perils used to call like Perils of Grandma. We'd be we'd be out on a run or coming back from a box and yeah, we'll go back to the firehouse and all of a sudden you go, sorry, make I'll turn here. So you turn there just like a street sign that got sheer off, you know, and it's about yeah, maybe six They were

You know, I'm doing something right. Yeah, he did that a lot. I remember the guys talking about that.

It was good. So do you remember the first day the rug walked into the firehouse?

Probably not, but I say I just remember a few times like when before Richie became a chauffur, and he was a good chaulf too. There was there was you know, if you had the ov position, you know in the truck. Yeah, that was one thing I'd always make sure I knew who the Sheaulf is the engine chaufers were in the battalion because you know, some guys are better than right.

Up.

It's like, you know, it's all like cock eid his head.

And it's like.

He never he never thought it looked bad. That's even that's even crazy. Well, I never thought it looked bad.

The remember when you had Phil tofano on he told the story about him and to Shak in the kitchen. You know, they were talking about something and Ritchie goes something you don't even know what reality is, and goes on reality, what that thing on your head? And left.

Had a good offense, no defense.

Yeah, yeah, Richie was that place was.

Tough words with the guys were tough over, funny and tough man.

Phil Bill had a rug too, So it was Phil him and one other dude I think.

Had it was Lieutenant Jimmy Johnson. Uh, Jimmy Johnson had had a rug. Phil had a rug. Timmy Walters had a rug. So we had like the most rugs in the Madonna.

On the job. Bald was Bald wasn't in then. Bald wasn't in then, so everybody was hiding it right.

With Timmy Walter's rug. He was down in the down in the rat hole and uh, you're back. I'm not, I'm you know how things were in the firehouse. So he was down there sitting in there. The guy comes up from the from the basement and he goes, you gotta go downstairs and see Timmy. So I go down.

He's sitting on one of the stools and because they lifted up his rug and they put a paper towel here, put his rug back so like it looked like you know those cartoon quails.

He had no idea.

What was the I go, I go into the TV room down there, and it's it's uh, I just I almost fall to my knees laughing. It's like he goes ja. Yeah, it's like I forgot something upstairs. I gotta go back upstairs. Almost been making up the stairs. I was laughing so hard.

There was some funny guys over there.

Man, dude, there were funny guys there. I mean, all of those guys. I could think of so many names. Yeah, Johnny c right, Yeah, Frats for TAngelo, wasn't Johnny.

Remember that Johnny married the girl from the grocery store across.

Across the street. I remember that. I remember that.

I remember the grocery store changed owners and he would go over get to get the meal sometimes, and I guess he got friendly with the one girl working.

He was too nice for that place too. He was one of those guys, too nice. Frats.

Yeah, Johnny. Johnny was good people. So I mean, I think that you know the whole thing with the firehouses. I mean there's there's gotta be some people in the firehouse you may or may not get along with very well, but you still have to work with them. So I mean you can have like like Tooshak was very on

So Filter Fattle self proclaimed smartest man on the job, right.

That's right, that's right. He was.

He was.

He was interesting when he got to the firehouse. Yeah, I'm you know, he's one of the guys I really I really miss tremendously.

He was.

He was a great character in the firehouse. Ah and I'm probably I'm gonna go visit visit his uh you know, his wife and his son. When I'm going down to South Carolina visit my son, so I usually try to stop by and say hello to them. But uh, Phil, I remember, I think he just just about got off probation, or maybe he was just store on probably so I think he may still had the pumpkin patch on his

I was at that job. I seen him climbing up the escape ladder.

With with the roofsw Yeah, there's there are pictures of that man on the job. There's they have pictures of.

Him going up. So so.

Lieutenant Dan had some words with him after that.

I think, yeah, that might be thing.

I remember a guy saying that might be a never there's not there's only a few nevers and that that might be one.

And what what is it that ladder emergency has to be emergency all the time and you're going down, You're not you're not going up to the bucket with with equipment. So but uh, you know, his his his thinking outside the box wasn't the right outside the box thinking. He made it the chief right, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

He was.

He was a smart He was a really smart guy, right self, smartest guy in the firehouse, but on the job, on the job.

But he took care of me, Philly took care of me when I was getting out. He took care of me. Man. Yeah, he really did.

Good good people. That was ah yeah, yeah, all right.

So I'm gonna tell the story about the plaque now.

Oh the plaque plaque is awesome.

To eighty eight has a yellow gold back plaque with silver chrome to eight eight on it. We go to a job one day over by one fifty four.

That came off the building that used to be on the building.

Yeah, that was on the used to be on the front bumper of the their ring right of.

Two eighty eight toll ring just a two eight eight. But pet Brendan made it into the squad plaque. We go to this job by one fifty Before we come back, we notice, Jesus, the plaque is gone. Somebody took the plaque. Now mind you, I saw firing and Phil and playing clothes. They must have been buffing the job. So right away my antennis, why was that? I don't know. So plaque is missing. We don't know where it goes. Un Like I got to say, what eight months later, maybe we

We start we.

Start getting postcards from the plaque. And now it's wherever these guys are taking it. They could be in Disney, they could be in Germany. It's and the plaque is in front of their face and they say, hey me, the plaque and New Jersey having a great time. Miss you see Sue, you were here, you were here. And it travels all over the world.

I think it went to Japan probably, I think it went to I know it went to Canada in Cape Cod.

Yeah.

It's definitely Disney.

Yeah, and was definitely Disney. But the best plau is how they wrote the post because hey, it's me the plaque, really miss, We'll be home Sue.

And I think there were a few phone calls too that were made.

Yes and the plot. Yeah. A couple of months after that, we get a knock on the door. Open the door, there's the plat. I guess they're done with it. Put it back on the rake. A couple of weeks later, now another knock on the door, and there's like an envelope in there, and there's a picture of some resembles a woman. It resembles a woman because it's got uh, her toenails are polished, and she's urinating in the shower on the plaque.

We were all like this. We were like, oh, oh, that's that's that might be pushing it a little.

That was the worst part of its vacation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So nearly Neary calls the Matt Neary calls over there the answer for the seeding man. He goes, you know, guys, that was a great great You guys were so funny with that. He says, the only sad part is one of you guys is probably banging that behemoth.

That was.

He did say something like that. I remember, I remember him talking about the feet. He was like yeah.

But then after that we definitely had like a good rivalry going with one fifty four, you know, like a little bit here and there, and then like whatever we were doing, they would chirp us on the radio. We would do something today. I'm like, whatever we were doing, and then what what happened? Coops at the at the airport?

We had run?

Yeah we got all right, you remember that, Yeah, we get we got.

I was going to ask you that that wasn't you driving right?

No, that was it wasn't that. I just saw pictures of that. I think I came into like one.

I forget what they did. You know, they tried to cut across like one of the fields or something by the by the uh by the airport, yeah, by LaGuardia, and they were stuck to the chat like it was deep and they couldn't get out. I think they ended up having the sanitation the plow guys or something come you know whatever, come get them.

So on Garo, who always had his camera with them all the time.

Garo started like snapping pictures of the rig in the thing, and then we started sending.

Them, Yeah, we started sending them pictures.

And then I think after that it kind of it kind of dropped up a little bit, but it was always still fun.

Man.

There was another time, another neary story. You gotta love it. You know what's gonna involve. He's working at the rescue school now at the Randall's Island and who does he see one fifty fourth rate there? They must have been doing some kind of training, right. He goes in and takes a giant ship and the caught we can and put it on the engine compartment fifty four rigg. He said it was like ninety degrees too.

Bro, I remember that. I remember that.

I never heard that's that's the first time I'm hearing. I guess the guys who were working that they kept that up, kept that on the down low.

Probably who who is the funniest guy in the firehouse? Jim?

I would I would probably say like Steve Farring firing right.

It had to be fairy Steve.

It was always fun, you know. When him and Glen b Ruby got together, and him and Glen ber Ruby got they were like.

It was like.

Firehouse every it was. It was just so much fun.

Now, I'll go through the shoes from the You're good, uh what he got Big Philly right there in the middle.

Big Philly, John Nepolitano, Shelley Barocus. I'm not sure that the guy on the fall fall right, he wasn't. He wasn't at the house that long. But his uh, try to take what his nickname was? Was't ha bag No, he said he you know, it was something like he was always like nah. So I think they nickname his.

No help?

What's the guy's name all the way on the left, Jim, what's his name? I see him all the time. I can never remember George tre Broh the guy. Yeah, yeah, he was in three or seven the whole time, right, yes, ladies.

Man Keith yep yep, Keith O'Connor next to him, Charlie Hoffman behind the pennant, and Steve Carbon up on the on the back step.

Was there a long time too, right Carbon?

Yep yep. Charlie, Charlie Hoffman and John and Shelley are no longer with us.

So yeah, So Nappy came from one forty one fifty four right, yes, and then he went to rescue two yep. I think he was driving. When was he driving that got him over to two? He was driving the commissioner or somebody, I don't know.

It was he It could have been chief of department or maybe the commission I don't know.

He was driving, don't hurt.

So he got over there and uh, I don't know even happened and that was it.

So he was really still have all right, So let's talk.

He would get uh John would get the house. Uh you know, he was a volley out and.

Hot bog.

Lake Lakeland near Lake ron concu or he would get he would get the good flashlights for us. So I still have the flashlight that he got for me, do you Yeah, I just can't. I you know, sentimental thing, you know, it's just uh way of remembering, remembering him a little bit, you know, I you know, when it was out of my shed.

Now what was it like working with Richie Schmidt?

Richie Schmidt was his his his first job. He really wasn't even working. We were having a company meeting at the change of tours. Uh uh you know, like sixth at night or whatever. We got the bakery diagonally across the street from the firehouse on eighty Uh it's eighty eighty first Street, and he literally he just got to the company and I think his first tour was like one or two days after after this happened. But I pulled pulled the rig out out of the quarters and

He's got gigettic cads, right, and.

Yeah, he's probably one of the strongest guys I've ever known in my life. If he worked out legitimately, he'd be a phenomenal.

He used to bust my brother's bulls. My brother be there working out, maybe with two plates on benching. He come in and he goes, what do you do, rich I'll work it out. Put a couple more plates on that, put a couple more plates on, he go walk out.

He told me once that when he was you know, he was a uh you know, he was a builder. He used to do contracting work and stuff like that. But when he was doing roofs, he used to have a competition with one of his one of his partners, to see how many bundles and shingles you could bring up to the roof. At one time he'd bring up four. Yeah, they're eighty pounds bundles. So you put two bungles on each oulder and up the ladder. And when the the

So he went a lot of guys went to rescue for, right Charlie Weeman.

Yeah, Charlie Weeman went to rescue for one of the one of the guys at my first class and Proby school that I taught. He's over there now, yuh Shoemaker if you know him. It was his father was on the job to shoot His father was the shoe. Yep, all the shoe, the sh we call him, we call him Jason Schuemaker. We call him Willy Shoemaker for the But the shoe was in two fifty two, right roof.

But what's that?

I don't I don't know where.

I don't know where she was in two fifty two.

And then uh, we had we had four guys go up to rescue three Tommy Tommy forget, Bobby Anderson went up there, Danny Barry went up there.

And uh oh, Bobby Anderson.

Holy yeah, Scott, I forgot Scott Maxwell. Scott Maxwell went up Yeah.

So it's like the breathing ground for rescues over there.

Resk you and and a lot of I think two Ruby, Yeah, yeah, he went to did you go to rescue one?

One?

One?

Yeah, he's called ready mout mouth.

That's Richie Schmid. He calls everybody walls. I said, we had a lot of the three, three of the four. She he's in the four nine battalion from one fifty four.

So so yeah, this is still all the job was he is? He off.

I don't see when did I see him last?

I think it's still working.

I saw him at the Centennial I don't know. He's working on that.

How all goes the centennial?

What was the data on it? It was in February. Oh wow, Yeah, so we had a good turn. Now it's like at the house. There's like two hundred people, you know, dignitaries and a lot of retired guys showed up and we had the the party over the plat Deutsch over Flour O'park.

Yeah.

Man, that was that was a fun time.

So it was good to see what did you see Johnny? See was Johnny c there?

I'm trying to think. I think, yeah, I know he was at the firehouse. He was at ceremony at the firehouse. Uh, but you know there's just so many people there, you know, you try to talk to ye.

I liked he was a good guy. Man Johnny's team. How did your own.

Little little cocko?

That was his?

Uh, because he worked he worked in uh the house over and Flushing. I'm not sure if it was one twenty nine the ladder on the engine over there.

I think it was one twenty nine.

Yeah, they had they had a guy and then he went to forty six. He got promote anyway, Yeah, they had a guy over there named Big Cocko, so they named him Little Cocko.

He was sure.

Lieutenant Dance as it was a drill At two pm he was reporting from Probie School. I think he's talking about.

Yeah, I said a lot of how many captains, Oh, captains?

How many captains did you go through?

Seven? Seven?

Wow?

Yeah was my first and uh, Kenny's ile. Kenny's iel was they kind of screwed him or around if he had he got hurt of the job. I guess when he was a lieutenant years ago and his back was given him, he actually went to the hospital. He went to the emergency room one night from when he was at home. His back seized up and he couldn't. I guess whatever nerve uh that was going through the vertebrae that helped him breathe kind of seized up. So he was I think they had him on a resuscitator for

And he's bracing.

I was afraid I was gonna I was going to paralyze the guy hit the bump to what I would you know, you know, like the speed you normally come back from a job or or or a box from. That's how I would drive to the box when when he was working, because I was afraid he's gonna I was going to do something to his back if we had hit anything too hot.

So he was a good boss.

I'll tell you.

We had.

You know, a lot of a lot of good captains come through.

You have Fifer the engine, didn't you.

Yes, yeah, he was. I was in Proby school. He was in my Proby class. You know, good old little Joe Peiffer.

What about brother used to call my brother had a nickname for him too. I can't remember.

I remember when he when he got promoted to well, he bounced to a house when he got promoted to lieutenant. And we had a guy, Phil Kelly, came in a few years before me. I was in how I was at house watching. He was working in the truck for the for the day tour. So he was up in the the officers seat doing whatever he was doing up there. Phil Kelly comes in into the firehouse and looks in the looks at the truck, and it starts laughing. Who brought their kid to work? It looked like somebody brought

It was funny.

So yeah, then then he then he got I guess promoted to captain and he got to spot in the engine eventually. So he definitely definitely liked.

The m s.

Yeah money, he's sleeping.

Yeah, well we built the he's not not in that picture.

Yeah.

So the guy on the very Mary Carson from the Giants, big dude, he would stop it. You bring his son once in a while to say.

Hello, No, I see it's actually did he live near by or something?

He just lived in New Jersey?

Did he just picked your firehouse?

Yeah? And he he you know, it's he could probably afford any car he wanted. And he used to come by in like a like a jeep Cherokee all the time. So yes, Johnny Fratts in the in the middle of the short day in the middle.

Right, yep, Yeah, I don't know, he was over there.

Yeah. And Brian Deary on the far right, he just got promoted to deputy chief. Yeah. Fabro Is on the on the far left, far right. Excuse me, Trumbley Bruno's behind him to shacks behind Harry Carson. Jimmy Brooks is between the guy to the left of Jimmy Brooks. I think he was from three to sixteen. I think that's Joe Dunlevy behind Frats. Just seeing the eyes and top of the nose, it looks like Buddha. And I don't remember the name of the guy that's between Abbamonty and right behind Albamonty.

Mhm, I have to look that name up. Any A couple of guys here, there's some newer picture. This is just another day, the same day.

Yeah, same same guys, different different posey.

All right, all right, Well to make sure I didn't forget. These are too late. Mm hmm.

There's another one there.

That one.

Yep, you're there. Cool, that's the.

That's the shmow right in the middle, the schmoo.

Yeah, he came in.

He got to the house. They had that thing going on where uh, if a proby went to a slow house and there was a senior guy in another house that was thinking about transferring, he could bump they could switch. Remember that for ninety days or ninety days, and uh, that's how he got who the ship Bob Montgomery from the engine he went, he went over to two to uh call it white Stone, excuse me, the house in white Stone.

That's how we got named.

Uh dude, that was the sickest story I ever heard guys do to somebody what they did to the shmoo with the can.

So it was there was something with the can. I thought you.

I was hoping you had all the facts because I remember hearing it kind of like third hand. Yeah, something where he had the can. You remember they used to have the can that used to flip down right. You guys had the can that flipped.

Down right like that right on the outside outside.

So he did something.

I think there was like a strap or something that you had to do to lock it in, and he forgot to do it. I don't remember exactly how, but there was something where he forgot to do something to keep it from falling out right. So supposedly what the guys did was they had they saw a cop or something down the road, like a couple of streets down, and they said to the guy, take this can and walk it up. Say that the can flew off the rig and hit some and then the girl is like

And again, I don't know all the story. What's happening you?

Oh?

Oh, Chet looks yeah, you're back.

So you're gonna have to go upstairs. You're off duty.

Now you got to go upstairs, get in your class a's and then the chief is going to call you on the house.

Watch.

So this poor basketart go he thinks like he's killed somebody or to death. He goes upstairs getting his class a's, comes back down supposedly sitting in the house watch like he's almost like he thinks his job is gone.

He's you know, he's tearing up or something like that. It's just like it was horrible for the guy, you know what I mean.

And they let him go for a while, and then I think they called him on the phone or something and uh and let them off.

And I remember when I heard that, I'm like, holy shit, man, I guess I'll never forget to lock them. Yeah tough.

Yeah, that went on in the house.

You know, were you part of the thing that I remember that guy? Were you part of the thing that they did with my brother's Cadillac. You know he had the big yellow catallact.

Oh yeah, I hit I hit that with the with the with the truck.

Oh digit no, what what they did? They hit with his window? Were you there at that time?

I don't think so.

We used to park. You know, the fourteenth Division had the bay next to it.

Oh yeah, yep.

My brother when he was a c guy thought he was whatever. He would park his yellow Cadillac in there, so they governed there. One day they rolled down the window of the Cadillac and take a bunch of glass and they throw it on the seat like it's like a window bro.

Yeah, okay, yeah, that's coming back, yes.

All the you know what it is.

I think they moved it out of there first and moved it on to the sidewalk outside, and then they did it. So he was pissed at his car was out and he thought somebody broke the window. He brought it to the glass place. The guy goes.

Talk a man, Yeah, I clipped the front bump or the driver's side front bumper while was coming up eighty second Street, and he was parked tight to the corner and I just put a put a nice little wrinkle in the bumper. Oh no, did the house took care of it. You know, we laid out for the body work and all that stuff like that. He was he was I think that the day he died, he was still pissed at me.

That was that was his baby, big yellow pimps car, the yellow banana, the yellow banana.

Where is that carbs?

My father took it. What happened was my father took it from Richie, and then when my dad died, Richie took it back. And I don't know what the hell happened after that. Man, I don't know who got it. But I had to drive that car home many a time. Well, my father was in the cups. I used to have to drive that car with him.

Minute you talked about a Cadillac, what was it kind of call?

Was it Cadillac?

It's huge?

Was it was a Cooptaville, right?

Coop?

Yeah, Cadillac eighties, early eighties, seventies.

No, And I was a little older, I was a little new with any like eighties it was.

It was an eighty something caught.

Yeah, yep. Oh the rug of stories, so many stuff. So I have a ship, no ship moment where you thought you were gonna buy it at a job.

Cut me off that.

Your inside it's going it out.

Yeah, You're ship's a little blacky today.

You have got a job where you thought you were gonna buy it.

Probably there was like three jobs that I came Probably, I would say I came close. So first the first one was it's just I think it was just off of probation. We had it. We had a job down ninety fourth Street, three seven Avenue, Sunday morning, about four

But it was.

It was the first time that I actually thought somebody from the company died at a fire. We Uh yeah, we get down night, you know, almost a three seven, the smoke going across. Uh. The guy who was driving our rig was from Rescue four. So he put the he put the stick up, you know, one story, one story taxpayer put the stick up.

Uh.

Norman Sebisi went up on the roof. Uey Daugherty was the o V. He went to the got the round to the rear.

Uh.

Lieutenant Donald Telly, me and Georgie Call were the forced Blanchry team. So we started to open up the stores and we get to about the third roll up and and this this is what was kind of weird about it, Georgie asked me later on. Basically something happened and I guess we all noticed it at the same time, and we turned around and started going for the street and

Describe it.

And I hit the I hit the street, and I'm on my knees and elbows and I want to go to the to the cars to protect but there were flames were going underneath the cause, so I go, Yeah, the flames were underneath the cause, going about five feet out past the cards into the middle of the street.

So I don't know it.

Yeah, that was you know, I had like a sunburn, sunburn on my face, you know, going you know, we had the mass on but we didn't have pieces on our face. But that was that was a fun job. We got to use the only time in my career that we actually set up the ladder pipe and used the ladder pipe. You're going to say that, yeah, yeah, we turned it, We retracted it all the way, put the ladder pipe on, turned into the buildings, went right into the taxpayer with it, and then it extended it

What what was that? Daniel Buckeye says, one O.

Three third Street between Northern and thirty four.

Yeah, yeah, I gave That was the job I gave my first may Day at Durray Smith from one thirty six. You know him, yeah, yeah, he he felt through a light aaron light shaft you know and close that job.

Yeah.

So that yeah, that where the where the shaft was, there was there was not even if it was just like the tower, the tar from the roof just kind of came up to the hall. There was no no parapet around that that shaft way and uh, the way the buildings were set up, the fire building had like a garage and back that all the cars were on fire, so there was a lot of smoke, and the wind was blowing from like Northern Boulevard to three four Avenue and exposure to exposure three, well, no, it's excuse me,

Hi.

He brought both of his I think both of his legs.

But yeah, well it shotted both both of his heels. I think were screwed up. But that's right. When we changed the the may day procedure, you do that, you know, may day, may day, may day. You know a lot of one, five, four show for the command may day that I did that three times and nobody answered me. Now that's before we had the the new radios with the alert button. So I gave it three times and nobody answered me. So I went, I figured, okay, I've gotta go down. I'll get the roof rope, we'll send

I found him in the shaft, and then Nicky Corrado and uh Chris Karanji came in with Matt Carles and we got him out of the shift.

Okay, yeah, I wasn't sure if it was you guys are are rescue rescue for? But guys got him out, and so that was. I don't I don't know how he didn't get hurt.

More than I did get killed because there was a lot on his feet.

Yeah, there was a lot of junk on that shaft too, but he had his mask on, you know, yeah, yeah, I actually that was That was the only job I went to. Uh that it was on the roof that I went through a whole bottle of air, so comptly drink my bottle up.

I think Jimmy Mesmer was a roof man, Jimmy jim Jimmy Jimmy Mesmer.

Because I remember pulling pulling down that coming off at three four, heading towards northern and you couldn't you couldn't see in front of the rig. Eventually I had to creep into the smoke and eventually, you know, I saw the rear three sixteen. They were they were the first two engine there. So that was that was a good job. And I think that the way the building was set up,

Yeah. You never had a go to a rescue. You what is that? Never had the inkling to go to a rescue? Never wanted to?

Yeah, I kind of wanted it once once the guy I got over it.

Did you ever want to study?

I actually took I think I took two lieutenants. You know, I did the whole fire the fire tech thing. I did really well. You know all the the the practice tests they give you a fire tech. Yeah, I was getting I was getting the nineties nineties on him. When it came to the real deal, I froze up a little bit. I don't know it just whatever in my head does left, you know.

So he did a Swanee River nor.

I think God puts you where he wants you, and God didn't want me to get promoted to lieutenant. And like the first the first lieutenant's exam I needed. That was that was the exam where they had like eighteen double answers.

Yeah, sick double answers yeah or whatever it was, and that it was like you didn't get any I didn't get any of them.

I needed like three, and I would have I would have passed.

Who said Bobby Austin said the same thing last week.

But my yeah, my my wife and my wife goes. You know, you know, maybe that's you're lucky because if you got promoted and uh, you know, wherever you would land could be anyway, nine to eleven happened, and you know, I could have been a brook House in Manhattan house and maybe not.

Be absolutely so if you would have went the rescue, I think it happened. Yep, you know you were you were.

Hey, listen, there's another fire. Geh.

Lieutenant Bucket's saying another fire eight four in northern jim got dog bit.

Oh yeah, yeah, that was that was interesting. Yeah, it was. It was just you know, the sixth story m D right right down and down the road from the firehouse. I had the O V and uh it was I think it was the second the second floor. The apartment on the second floor I got. I got to the rear.

And the window.

It was the summertime, so the windows were open in the apartment. There was a there was a cat and a puppy on the window sill, you know, and smoke is coming out of the window and everything like that, and you know, I hear him forcing the door on the inside, and you know the noise, you know, the engine comes in. I hear him bleed the nozzle and he opens the nozzle and the cat and the dog fly out and they push him out off the window sill. The cat hits the ground runs the dog.

Yeah.

It was kind of right below the entrance to the basement. They had a railing and the top of the railing had ward iron spikes. The dog landed like the rear leg of the dog landed on a spike. So I went to pick the dog, picked the dog up, walk the spike, and it just you know, turned around and you know, lopped onto my hand. So I had to go to the medical you to get in the shots. That the h the raby shots.

That was fun.

The worse you could have been the dog.

Yeah, right there, the dog.

The dog.

They put the dog down. They they took somebody. It was too it was like six months older, not not even that. So, but that was that was a fun. Mat me right on the right on my good thumb.

Actually, I think the son of a bitch, he got you on the good thumb. He could even get you on the meady thumb, right.

Yeah, I know, yeah, but that was It was a lot of interesting jobs. Let's say the uh another probably the well, the second joy was I think two thousand and six, there was a big call you uh, they don't call him calling his mansions anymore.

Right, there's uh clutter or something or other.

Yeah, So this this was over and its side well along that it was woodsts right off of Queens Bully Queens Boulevard. It was I think it went to like a third or fourth. Yeah, I was back down to the lobby that way, and the literally the only part of that apartment that didn't have junket it was where the front door swung open. I was at that jump too, man, all right, so we're so that's that's where I got. I made I made the Close Call List, the National

Oh my god, dude, I never heard this story.

I actually had to hold the port of the ladder and squeeze my head out of the helmet and I got I got down to the ground and it's like my head's pound like I got hit by a towel out of basket and I'm holding my head like that. I have blood on both pairs of gloves and uh, my helmet wound up on the building. They had they had to go up and pull my helmet off the building.

This helmet, No, no, the the.

Yeah, the did you guys get the pictures of I sent three pictures of a picture of my three helmets the other day.

I didn't get that one.

Okay, So this is the this is the one with the impact liner and uh, the safety confiscated it. So you know, I had to go get a brain scan. This is the X ray in my head.

So he just stopped in time. Uh, I mean, he just stopped in time. What people yelling like, what do you remember? You don't remember anything like that?

The show for on the turntape and was talking with somebody down on the street, so he didn't see it. There was a tree that was the guys who were in the bucket. I think that the boom actually got stopped a little bit on the tree.

Ah.

But supposedly the land the lanyards for the lieutenants flashlight was tangled with the you know, the joy trigger the trigger, but I don't believe that. So yeah, but I'm not Wow, that's yes. So that that actually you know, they have the you know, the Line of Duty book that comes out every year for everybody it dies on the line of duty. They have a close call book and say I made that. No, that would make the light of duty one. I'm glad you're here. Yeah, so John, Yeah,

Give me a big because it was like, I think they wound up actually breaching the wall put that fire out, didn't they.

Yeah? Well, I remember they tried breaching the ceiling well the floor of the apartment above and they pulled that and I was junk all the way up to the to the ceiling. And then they tried breaching a wall and it was a wall of junk.

In front of him. I've never seen an apartment that had that. That wasn't even college's mansion. That was floor to ceiling junk everywhere. Yeah.

I think they had like like three or four forty dumpsters moved the debris out of the place.

I'm not hiding you this. The smoke was banked down to the lobby, like bank down to the lobby.

Didn't didn't the battalion chief try to do that pressurizing with the fans.

I don't remember that.

Sorry.

Remember every time every time the fans got engaged, it got worse.

Yeah, it did.

It didn't really work.

I was working with Evans that I can't believe I remember that.

Yeah, that was that was. That was an interesting job. I still I got the helmet. The helmet was. The helmet was in custody of the Safety Battalion till about five years ago. And then one of the later you know, I became a peer with the with the Counseling Service unit. One of the chiefs that worked worked down there as as a peer counselor and I gave I gave him the information and retrieved.

It for you.

He's like, oh, yeah, it's been in his box for twenty you know, twenty some years.

Still need counseling. Oh yeah, yeah, we're gonna do a show from Friends of Firefighters on mental health again.

Yeah that's uh, Casey plead he actually got me. You work with Casey Palidi, right right, Louis, Yeah, one three, Yeah, Yeah, he got me into it. I got invited to the you know, we have the Counseling service. You know, it puts on the breakfast every second Tuesday of the month.

I see that.

And I went it was it was a great time. So I figured, you know, I know Casey, I know a few of the other guys. So I went the next time, I went early to help cook and I kept I just kept going. You know, I was part of the cooking crow when Casey got me into the bea counseling and it basically it saved my retirement.

I was.

The first year I retired really really was totally yeah, yeah, yeah, because you go, you know, you go from the from the firehouse to what do I do now? And it's just kind of you know, I was drinking a lot. It was. Yeah. There was a guy in my in my hunting clubs. He retired from the City p D. He did like thirty eight forty years, and then he asked me how my retirement was. And I was like, and he goes, you feel lost, don't you?

Yeah?

I go yeah, yeah, So you know I.

Became a pit counselor. It's yeah, I go around, we go around, we talk about certain things. Uh, every few months, there's a certain like suicide is a big thing. You know, we you know, to waste the alcohol of drug addiction and all that stuff like that.

Uh.

And it doesn't have to be my firehouse. It's any any firehouse. Sitting around the kitchen table having a cup of coffee, talking with the brothers. And that's that's the you know, when you're retired, that's that's really what you missy. You don't you don't miss the commuting back and forth to the firehouse.

You don't.

You know, you don't miss the manhole covers that you got to sit.

In the middle of the winter hours.

I don't miss that.

Yeah, yeah, you really miss right. And let me ask you a question. Do you have the dream that everybody has you got to run and you can't find your bunkert yet?

Absolutely? That's or your your your helmets missing.

Helmets delayed delayed.

Oh my god, I can't tell you how many retired guys have that dream?

Man, that's we talk about that at the Retired Guys Breakfast. Almost every single person's had that dream.

I got.

Look, you haven't had that dreamy coops.

Yeah, yeah, it still Jimmy, I I was gonna say that.

Uh, when when I was in the fire house, like the last couple of years they had started with the counseling unit guys, you know coming to the firehouse, like you just said, like coming into the kitchen, and it was always cool to know, like you know, a lot of times in the middle of the day you had stuff going on and you're running around and doing all the ship you want to go to fire. You know, you didn't want to sit and have to talk about that.

But yeah, I always.

Felt like that was a big thing, is to have the guys from the job do that, because it just smooth that smooth out the rough edges there, you know that makes any sense.

It's you know, for me, what's what's great. You know, my time on the job. I know I know a lot of the senior guys or you know what everybody yeah, right, the guys who are cheaps now or captains of houses, and you know, my last three years on the job I did. I tought seven prov classes, so almost I go to Yeah you weren't your instructor in Proby school, Yeah, something like that. It's you know, so it's a there's

Up there for that.

I think he was. He was in two ninety two and they called to ninety two up there to help help remove remove a lot of the bodies, and he was he was telling the stories going back to the firehouses that you know, guys were you know, you know, crying, they were, you know, they were all shook up from being exposed to that much.

You know.

I guess that you want to call it that.

And I think that's kind of when the counseling service units started, you know, and then it then it started really you know, rolling after nine to eleven happens.

So who was that Irish guy who was in charge of the council a long time ago?

It was.

He got an Irish name crying out.

That was probably before my time. So yes, I got in, I say, I retired in twenty sixteen, so probably I got into the council.

I got.

Malachai or something like that. His name was Malichi, I think that was his name. Malachi could be Malachi. Yeah, he was like he was only one guy with the whole council unit. One guy. Now look out where it is down because we need it.

You know.

Oh yeah, it's it's uh yeah, it's the big thing just not not the dwell on a lot, but the big thing with the fire department is nation wide.

They did it.

They did a study the top ten fire departments in the country. They looked at their records the line of duty, line of duty desk compared to suicides and department and it's for every one line of duty, there's three suicides. Real suicides is actually taking more more of us out than line and duty jobs.

You know.

So that's that's like a big thing. We go and talk. You know, it starts talking about it. But you know, there's there's a few guys that since I've you know, since I've been doing this, have actually killed themselves, you know, and it fucks the house up, you know. So you know, we we we talk about this, how to maybe recognize maybe something's happening to from one of your brothers, you know.

But it's kind of it's.

Kind of depressing, but uh, that's that's something that we do as peer counselors and hopefully it helps.

So just having a general conversation helps me. You're not threating, you know, that's a big part of it. Don't make it, don't make an official and formal you know, kind of create a conversation. Just just just shoot the ship man. It doesn't help.

I use these two idiots, but you.

Know, you know, I go out with Case and one or two other guys, uh yuh, you know, and we all sit at different parts of the kitchen and you know, sometimes I were done. We'll see you guys later. Have you know, have you know, have good lunch or whatever, and you get out onto the apparatus floor and somebody will come over your tap. I talked to you for a second, you know, because they got you know, they may have it may be inconsequential problem, but to them

So Gus Day was Malachi Corrigan if you remember him. I knew was an Irish name.

Yeah, I say, I was way before, way before my time.

No, because it was he was there when we first started. So the counciling unit was nothing. It was this guy and a couple of other people.

That was it.

Now it's God, it's it's it's it's what it is today.

Uh Yeah, Drew Drew Kane is in charge of it now, so he's he's doing well at it. It's a tough

You know, you don't realize how helpful to ship coffee at the kitchen table that works.

I went, I went into I went into a house on the time, and the head, you know, it's like almost to let like the bottom heard of the coffee pot was it was probably got throw that out.

I love. I love.

Brings back memories of the worst coffee ever in the drive.

Yep, get to the bottom of that dream, Roffy. We're gonna get to the bottom of my dreaming.

That was it? That's what was it?

This one?

That's exactly what it looked like, that's exactly are you shooting?

And had the saddle brown interior, But that's what it looked like.

The ship because I thought it was this one, but I was like.

Actually that's we'll go back to that that that's the one that looks.

Like yeah, because then it was the there was this one. I was like, man, which found that my father had this one.

Look at the part of that car tank, bro, these things.

Man, yep, we cut up a few of them.

Every once in a while, I can dream by.

Me and started driving.

Kevin was driving his there's uh brother in laws car was a seventy seven, like I don't even know bonavill a month in Polla.

Dude, the front of the car looked just like that, like we could we were two little kids. We couldn't even see seventeen years old. We couldn't even see.

Over the dash he was. We would hit the gas in that thing. You would have to hang on, bro, it was eating the ground. Put your seat, yeah, it would put your back in your seat, man, no ship.

Yeah, that's the big difference now with the like yeah we had we we hardly had any parking at a fire house. You know, you had to park on the street. When when my first few years there, we got probably two or three four casts stolen every every year. Yeah, you go out on a pull box or a run or something like that, you come back cause missing. But now now you know, we always had the ghetto cruises. Now now everybody has a luxury cause and it's like, yeah,

So I think it's about that time.

It may be that time.

But before we do so, I just wanted to point it out before I forget. Steve Weisman from your Fairfax says hello, I want to make sure. Yeah, he's in there, so I didn't want to be that. I will save that. But anyway, okay, yes it is.

I hope. I hope he looks as old as I will.

All Right, So Coops, is it that time? Lou?

Yeah, I believe So Okay, that's fucked up. I don't know.

He keeps skipping in it out, Yeah, lose a little skipped up. Anyway, here we go.

It is time for.

Oh hey, all right, old school tip of the day. I've been you know, watching watching the show. Most of the guys leave, you know, probably everything I would say, you know, a good tip of the day thinking about it to two small tips of the day would be size up. That's something I think everybody should practice. Uh, you know it size up doesn't start when you get to the firehouse. It starts when you leave your house. But carry that over to your off duty time and

Right, excellent. You know, it's funny. We teach her regularly. Now we teach the guys how to force the door by themselves. We're short staff down here. We're not rolling heavy like I always say.

But you know, you know in pro Probay School they have that together the inward outward opening door that they take around for drills to the firehouses, and it's always always a two person operation. When I was when I was teaching at the Rock, I go up there with the hallick and I do it by myself, and the guys are like, how do you do that?

Is this? Well?

You know, I got I got the You know, you have to learn how to do it. You know, it's you're not gonna have somebody with you all the time.

You know, you tell them, how do you get the car to you hall practice, practice practice man.

Get in those reps. Bro, you gotta do it.

Yep, God, let's do our last thing before we go.

Yea, here are you ready? It is?

Here, It is.

It's a Roofie and I for the fifty third annual Fire ex Bowl hosted by Lancaster County Fireman's Association. The fire x Bowl showcase more than two hundred and fifty emergencies, servious exhibits featuring the world's leading manufacturer of fire, emergency, medical services, rescue and public safety equipment, and T shirts

So maybe yeah or three are you buying.

Yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah yeah, Bro, come on down.

Wants to know how the pizza cuta is doing? Whoa as well?

It's selling, it's selling.

I got something I gotta I gotta shout out go with a kid. So I had sent this to the guys h this past week. This was from Aaron Burns Lee on Facebook. She sent me a message. I forget if it was a Chief Burns or Captain Burns on the job. She said, thank you you got my dad through his suffering. He had nine to eleven illness and watched you guys most days. It made him feel close to the job by hearing the stories. You do so much more than you think. God bless that's great.

Broad job of the world. Makes it worth seeing you guys every week, doesn't it. Man?

We know we were making a difference.

Bro. Don't forget April first week. April will be out in Nindy. Yeah, it's out there. John'sill just coming right.

Yeah. I'm gonna bless you with my presence.

Thank you, Jim.

Did you know when Andrew levin Zeno I think I'm pronouncing it right L A V E and Z. I. You know eleven Zeno one of our regulars was asking about earlier. Just figured out, don't recall he's a captain of Newton in a jersey with them with him Stevie pee Weee, mister peewee, who's Jesus? Very regularly on nine to eleven?

Not Laredo, it's a orto. Don't make I did anyway? You got you're right, Kevin Brown. Kevin Brown says, now Jim's got a boat ride coming, Yes you do. August second, Jim, all of our past guests from this year, we take you out on a fireboat to John J. Harvey. We cruise around Manhattan. We threw some drinks down our trucks and some uh, some food works for me. Invitations will be going out shortly.

At the firehouse, saying if it's a free oh it's for me.

Hey take it away. That's what I say.

My name is Joe. I never say no wow wa you pull name. Take anything you can give me, you give me.

There you go, all right, fellas. So next week we tried to get a show together next Thursday for the one hundredth centennial of Rescue two. Try to get you guys from Rescue too. They got a great hotcovered book from the same author as Day Save New York. It's a great book. We'll go through the book, the pictures and the history of Rescue two with a couple of evers of Rescue two. But until then, you know what I say, stay low and go.

Damn. It was a pleasure all those years running away. You enjoy your retirement.

It was.

Everybody all right, guy, Remember we're out rolling heavy yourself. Good night, yes, good night everyone,