GETTIN' SALTY EXPERIENCE PODCAST Ep. 246 : FF JAMES FINNELL

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 Geting 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, uh.

Well louise it and it's.

Like, welcome back to getting podcast. It's the only one, even though the other guy says he is. We're the only one that brings the f even though many guys say we're the only ones that bring the files. Get your table to you come back. We got all the ksty characters in the QC bst Johnson, Rob Procaccini I spoke to at length today, Keith Kojeski, Mike Wrapped Cavage, pee wee.

Big. Happy birthday to Big John Aity by the way, albnize is his birthday. Yes, what he said, he wants us to spend about two grand on a gift.

Nice Happy birthday. Will uh Loony cooney Looney's in there. Everybody's in anybody who's anybody's in there.

Made another year, Another year he.

Did yins made another year. Yeah, absolutely did.

Sorry, pro I forgot my wig. It's in the other room. Problem, I'll get it.

Get it.

He wants men and reps.

I mean Michael Rep Savage truck he one seventeen. Oh guys and the revs back Paul Myberg?

What Bill Scooter out?

Anyway, we had a good time at Indian did you miss us? We had a good time. We drank our faces off. I was just talking to Gonzo Rough. I'm like, I think I was up for the last three days. I think I was going through like withdrawal or something.

I don't know, gons I don't even know who that man is. You know what he did? No, he had dessert.

Oh that's right, that's right. Holy did he have dessert?

No? Not one night?

No, we went to We did a noble.

Sam with sugar.

Yes.

I sent them the picture. I had a giant cone about this big, a giant cone. The next day I sent them a picture like who am I? I don't even know who I am?

And hold on, but he slept in two mornings.

I didn't go to the gym two mornings. Correct, I'm like, what is going on here?

I have no idea. What the hell that was about?

Getting old? Get no?

And then he sends me a picture. I was watching the Masters and he sends me a picture of a bowl of ice cream ice cream cone?

Please, ice cream cone, pistachio.

Oh was it good?

You gotta live a little you know what I mean? You gotta live a little man. That's I've been working on a new name for Louis.

Oh are you okay?

I am, because the guy is just he's he's so good with investing in money. I gotta see, even when we're kids, everybody wanted to call this, what do you kind of car?

You want?

Roofie?

IBM stock, That's what I want? And uh, I gonna buy a couple of four families and a buy this and that. So he's earned every penny.

It is.

The wolf of warning.

Name Rookie, that's right. Get those rookie numbers right.

So, anyway you need the investing information or tips, reach out to Louis. He loves when you email them that and guests for.

Your and g s getting sold the experience that is. That's what I'm saying. God, good for you for you, so it could redirect to me. I'm just kidding.

God is actually working all the time on Easter.

Yeah, yeah, I gotta, I gotta do you know, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta bring in the shirkeles when you can.

Ma, don't worry. His wife is Jewish, you know what, it doesn't matter, right, I mean she killed us. Save you for crying out lout right, thank you for killing us.

Save you. I appreciate it.

Thank God he rose from the dead.

Yeah, and tomorrow, actually I'll show you.

Oh hey, I'll show you coming back. Listen, let's get to the commercials really quick because we get Jimmy Finnell in that we just found out as older than us.

Yeah.

Yes, doesn't look good though.

That son of a gun.

He does a good man. That's the hand.

The bike's the badest, all right, So multiple uh metalwear. We're gonna talk about those grabs that he had.

Today three two thirty four. But anyway, who's looking at that? Here we go, all right, we're gonna to bring back mister New Jersey Fire.

Here we go.

Established in nineteen thirty and under the current ownership since nineteen eighty seven, the New Jersey Fire Equipment Company handles a complete line of fire Department, Equipment and supplies. Headquartered in green Brook, the company operates full three M Scott service facilities in Ridgefield Park and Toms River staff by ten fully authorized Scott's certified technicians with a fleet of

There we go before we get the next one. I just reminded by Daddy. Ray reminded me Ray Maguire. We go to Capitol Restaurant and he says, hey, try to concle a custard creampie.

Yeah, that's thank your ship. The whole fucking frill trip.

So Cliff and Louis Luis says, how big is that?

Order one?

I said, alpis it out and I see this. It looks like heaven. It really looks like Kevin And it's the best dessert I've ever tried in my life. Right road fight from the time.

It goes, I'm not really crunchy, but you know, nothing like that.

The best.

Cliffy, Cliffy, he almost passed out.

I think we was doing that.

We call him the cliffee Bat. He was doing a little dance while he was eating it, Like bro, it was the best dessert life. We want to Yes, you would have never ordered.

Right, Nope. Yeah, So add one of the things. Mike Miller. We're doing the show on mental health next week, so call me this week coming up where actually we're gonna have Vinnie Donn it's.

Going to come on and open up about mental health.

So Kenny is going to be on too, and.

Kenny roofs out, roofs, we killed something. Go ahead, play the next.

Okay, here we go.

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And thank you Christy and Paul Meiinberg for the super chats. Yes, we didn't push that in. We stopped beating them over ahead a little all the time.

Oh that's why I kind of threw that out there before, kind of bringing that back a little bit. So if anybody else feels like giving a little something, throw it. He'll be the alligator. You hook us up.

Of course, there's money to drive fourteen hours all the way out the.

Ah my god, let's go.

All right, We'll bring him in here, fire light, a hard charge and tattooed up badnass rescue.

For man coming to the stage. There we go.

Welcome, he's got tony guys.

Funny guys.

I had a hair on it. It's a little gray, but he still hasn't. Man, it's great, yeah, but it's there. Better gray than a way, right, that's true. That's before we get too far. We got to get patriotic. So he gave me the look like it's like, 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.

Hey man, brother, ay amen? All right, So Jim, let's go uh back in the time machine. Let's talk about the early days of the Finel family, growing up, where you grew up. We know why you became a fireman, but talk about you and your brother and mom and dad. Well, grew up at Howard Beach Queens back in the day.

Me. Yeah, forget on the on the old Howard, old Howard man. Yeah. And I can remember back in the day my dad was in in a quarter in the original firehouse. What treet was out of that? I couldn't even tell you what the original firehouses. But we had the wooden sign at our at our house forever, the black wooden sign on it. Sh yeah, we had it forever. That was my dad back in the day. How do how do they come upon that?

He was like, guys, look over there.

Whoops. When they moved the no, when they moved the fire house, yeah, he moved over to what was it Lynden Boulevard. Yeah, yeah, So at old house they took it down and he brought it home and we had her hanging over the garage in our house.

Awesome man.

And then after he passed, I contacted a guy from two and a quarter. I didn't know Ronnie at the time, and I gave it back to the firehouse.

They had it that now, you know, so.

Lefting like a circle, yeah, big circle, lefting like a circle. So dad was into twenty five. You had a brother older and younger, my brother's younger. Uh huh, you kicked the snot out of him.

Yeah, him in the head with his shovel. He got a couple of stitches. When we kid it happens, you know, it was an accident.

Hey, Jimmy, how much time did your father do?

H He was on for a while.

I I was.

I got on the job. He was still working, and then he went on light duty. So I was bringing his check homes over twenty you know, maybe twenty maybe a little bit better than twenty.

Five this whole time there in two and a quarter, he was at two and a quarter.

They got promoted lieutenant and he went out to two seventy three and Queen's They worked two seventy three. Wow.

And then that was probably before the Asian invasion.

Oh yeah, yeah, wait before that. And then my brother got I had a proby school. My brother got assigned to the house. My dad was already gone and retired, and he got there.

He got there because somebody put him there, or he got there because no.

My father knew a lot of guys, you know, he knew uh South sand Sol and Joe Ebert, like these chiefs and staff chiefs and everything else. So you know, chargers, he had a hook.

He got there, you know, all right, so he went to the engine of the truck.

He went to the engine. But then that whole house there was a whole shake up, you know, whether you were involved or not, the whole em S thing. Oh right, everybody got lifted that that happened. Yeah, my brother was there when that happened. So he got sent where he would Well, first they they said, like wherever you want to go. And then Union it's like any place, but those places places to places. Yeah yeah, yeah, so he's like, you know what, he had some time on everything else.

Retire and that's it.

You know.

Those are the pink it's full of on right.

In Douglas. Oh oh, the bird Actuary, the cemetery right across the street. Yeah, across the street too.

Yeah.

And then uh, my nephew's there now. Actually he's in the truck over there one twenty nine. Yeah, my nephews that I'm holding my nephew right there.

What he what he did look like Wow.

When I was a kid, Wow, I was like I was.

Twenty seven man, no tattoos, no bikes. Did you always know you wanted to get on the job from your dad or you know what? Like back in the day, I was like just working odd jobs. I worked for the town of Smithtown. I bought some tow trucks. I was driving tow trucks. I took the seventy seven test kind of like only half into it, and then I got tired of doing all that other stuff and I'm like, soon as the test comes out again, I'm putting the

We built the whole.

Setup for the physical the four foot wall, eighth of wall, everything right, and most all of us that took that test got on.

Do you remember the components of the test, because I know they changed it significantly from yeah, yeah with the mall.

You had to hit the tie off the wall the eighth foot wall. Then you had to do the leg walk, got to run. You know, it's pretty tough, you know, But then I got like a ninety nine overall. But then the women fought it, so really it get held up in court like seven years. Wow, I would have been on a twenty. I got on twenty seven, right, So it took me. I did get almost the same thing as you. I was.

I didn't really take it seriously at first, and I didn't get on with me and Louis took it together. He got on and the next time I was like, I'm not wasting any time I'm doing. I trained my ass off and I was in the first of that list.

You know. I saw like Richie Eula, Tommy McCarry, the old guys in my town. The first test with those guys, those guys were already on is and they were loving it. So I was like, I gotta study, I gotta I gotta do this, I gotta work out and.

Just do it.

And you did it and I did it.

You can do anything you want. That's the guy to try to get on Yula. You ever try to reach out.

To him room.

I did try to get him.

He watches the show, but we might be able to get him down the road.

I think he had some some help.

Stuff for Yeah, I think Richie's got a little health things going on, all right. Well, Richie's a good guy, because I would run into him down and he would go down to Hilton Head in the winters and I would run into him down there.

But he hasn't been down there the last couple of years.

So when did you start with the motorcycles after he got on the job before?

No, well I always had motorcycles, right always, and then when I got on I joined the fire Riders. I want to say, like right around eighty seven. I think the club started eighty five, but that was like the Firefighters edition they came out with right after nine to eleven.

They built that fight.

Actually, great Fagan from Squad one, he wrote a letter to Willie g who was the head of Holly Davidson, and said, oh, you know, you should do this and everything else, and then it came out with that bike. But the head of the fire Alan Arius, Yeah he was, but it was like kind of unorganized back then. So I kind of left for a little while and did my own thing. But then I came back and got back into it, right, you know, and it's been great, especially being retied. It's a good connection.

So you left the fire Riders, joined the Hell's Angels and then.

All right, so let's go.

You get you get the coal. What were you doing at the time you got the coll I was driving.

To trucks all right, you know, I have my own trucks and I had like four trucks. My brother was working with me there you go.

I put the business up for sale.

And do you remember where you were when you got the call where I was?

Yeah? Well it was actually a letter I got. You got a letter, right, yeah, I got a letter in the mail, you know. And I remember going to see the psychologists down there at first before that, you know, strange dude, man. Yeah, we were just talking about it. It was only one dude. Do you look like a pasty white dude? Kill your Walmart suit? Yeah?

The best. He's checking you out for your to make sure you all your marbles are there.

Yeah. Yeah. He was like a serial killer. Yeah, who's checking him out?

You know exactly?

There was like killing and something. I forget what his name was, yeah, laugh yette, right, yeah, yeah.

Laugh yeah yeah. Yeah.

Now I think Rescue six was down there for.

A while there was, right, the old Rescue six. We should do a story on the Rescue six.

Yeah, be interesting.

Then.

Uh then I Klahoma, went to.

Proby School and a lot of guys didn't know Proby school are in like fire riders or I just know them.

Still, you know who was your proby class?

Anybody that we might know? VI the Quino John Holfest.

Uh uh if you could pick him out, donny.

Ma, whoa, I can't pick him out.

I don't know any of the guys.

It's hot to even see it, but probably don't know any of the guys there. But you know it was a good class. It was twelve weeks back then. Uh huh, no big deal, you know, and you did the whole peace officer training at the time that.

Yeah, I don't even know what it is any I still don't know.

It was one week yeah, with nothing but no no firearms training.

And now everybody's got I have a permit I carry you know.

You should. Yeah, I mean I got a place in sel. I'm not far from you. You're a Warwick I'm right, I'm Sullomon, Yeah county, he's the Wolf of Warwick. Yeah. Then I went to three twenty four and really I was the first Proby they got there in a long time.

So you had no hook, No, I had no hook. You know, had a busy little shop for single engine man they went to Corona.

You know, we went to Corona to some good jobs, and we went to Left Rack all the time. We were right down the block from Left for Yeah, there were good jobs and left right Back in the day, the place was you know, really was a dump back then. And uh, there was a lot of guys there, so you really learned a lot from the guys. Are you the only guy that went there?

Excuse me?

Were you the only guy that? Yeah? I was the only guy that went there. You know, later on John Esposito, who's chief of department. Now John came there, I was still there. He was a proby when he came there, he was your bomp. Yeah, he was my fire but now he's cheap a department.

So you taught him, well you get you're done, You've done good.

Yeah. I was just you know, I was just like always do the right thing at the fire house. You know, even later in my career when he came there, like a lot of guys just wanted to like do whatever, Like just do one thing to make the firehouse better, right to you.

Know, do something.

It's not hard. I thought you it was an easy fire house to get to one hundred and eighth Street. Yeah, it's easy to This was a division Falkway and King's Park and I got off right there.

No traffic lights.

Was the division then when you got when you were in, No, it was the Burrow back then. Ah, the division was in with one I think right, yeah, yeah, and.

The borough we had Chief Patterson was in the Burrough.

He was like in charge of it.

Uh huh. Great guy. Yeah and uh. He would ask me to drive him a lot on the weekends and it was over time, and he really was.

He was just a great guy.

He would he would be doing his paperwork in the office and I would drive him get his like dry cleaning.

And whatever else everybody needs.

And he was like, all right, you know you can go home.

Everybody needs a gig, right yeah.

And it actually worked out because my buddy Great Fagan was getting on the job and I had an interview with him.

Uh huh.

So I was like, Craig, I know the guy. So I'm driving Chief Pattison one then and I'm like, oh, my buddy, Great Chagan's got an interview with you. It's like, oh, how is the guy? So I said, no, it's a good guy. And him forever like you know and everything.

He's a good guy, but they call him fuck face Fagan.

Yeah, I mean he you weren't.

Here when you hit Roofie when he said that, that's what they really called him, face Vegan.

I think he's actually listening right now now. So he got on the job too, and uh he went to two thirty six, and then he went to squad uh Squad one after.

He had a tough time on the job too.

Uh yeah, yeah. Yeah. His kids on the job now too. His kid Patrick's on the job right up the pro spunks. What's it, uh forty six and twenty seven?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got that right, yeah, twenty seven, yeah, yeah, that his kid's over there now. His kids probably got five six years on the job.

Yeah.

I remember seeing him all the time.

That was fun.

One.

Yeah.

So so when you were talking to his chief that like we shmoosing him, like you had him in the pocket, Like what was the story.

He was such an easy going, soft spoken guy, easygoing guy. Know. It was like I knew the guy forever, you know, and he was like, no problem, you know, I'll meet with him. And that was it.

And he met with him and next thing, you know, he was on the job in two thirty six.

Who do you know thirty six? I don't know.

He might have had that.

I don't know that either, But he got on.

The first job.

Jim, what my first job?

Yeah?

Where was it when I was in three twenty four? You mean yeah, I'm gonna say probably left Rack. Yeah, I would say left Rack.

It was funny.

We didn't go out there so many times.

Really, you know, I'm confusing those buildings, man, they are confusing with the different names right in the buildings.

Yeah, each one had different names, you know, somewhere on the service road. Others you got to go around the backside, you know.

Yeah, very confusing, Like, yeah, builds a lot of people, hot hot fires in those buildings.

The first job I was at, I had the nozzle and the guy gave me a nozzle on your first job. Yeah, And these guys are like they're like pushing me in and I'm like, it's hot.

Yeah, I'm like, you.

Know, it's hot like finale, But they I mean really, I mean, it was a long time ago. Those guys. They were still shining the poles and everything else, clean the braass and the firehouse, you know, inspection, you know, uh, what they call yearly inspection, you know, house inspection, inspection, inspection was like serious, yeah, yeah for real.

Well, when you got the burrow in there, that's a little bit more pressure, I think, probably.

Yeah, But they kind of stayed upstairs. We didn't really see them too much. They did their own thing.

Yeah.

Did they eat with you know, no, they didn't eat with us. No, No, man and the guys, the old guys. Yeah, no, I don't care if it was launch or dinner. There was no meal that even was near five dollars. Yeah.

Yeah, that was in the eighties too.

Yeah. Yeah, that guy spend I don't know what they said. They spent more than five dollars on just a snack, you know, on CHIPS's crazy. So how long were you there before you got the itch to go to truck? I guess I was there about two or three years. And there was a couple of chiefs that I became friendly with over into four to six, you know, and they something they always come by over there, and uh we got to see I got to see a lot of like the burrow from that satellite four.

Was in there.

Uh, so we go around a lot. We didn't we didn't use that thing a lot. But every once in a while they set up the mount of hole and you just staying there for the night. But like vic Fi, Tally was a good chief Marty us So I got to be friendly with them guys. And uh, Vick was a big car guy like I was. And one day says to me, Uh, you know, you want to come over and drive me a little bit. I'm like, yeah, well I'd really like to go to the truck too, you know, so come over and drive me a little bit,

Look at that he's dropping a little nugget here.

Yeah. Then I can't remember the captain's name, but if one captain over there, he would get so annoyed, like we were coming into the box first, and was there first two box? Yeah, I mean, like, you know, whatever, come in and take the box. You know, it's you guys at first, the no big deal, but he would be so pissed.

That's not rabando was the box.

No, I can't think of the guy. The guy's long, he's long gone, you know. Now.

You guys had to be doing five thousand runs over there.

No, Yeah, we were busy. It was a really busy house, you know.

And you had all different types of buildings over there. Man.

Yeah, if we went to Elmhurst, you know, he went over to left Rack or you went like Forest Hills was a good area, but you'd always get some good private dwellings over there.

Yeah.

You probably.

One fifty one over there, second due, Yeah, one fifty one would be over there.

Yeah.

Yeah, then we go by one fifty four, A lot up.

I know they're up there.

There was always good jobs up that way.

Yeah, and he knew the rug rough.

Oh so your brother up there all the time, all the time. Scared me with the cut sleeves, with arms to cut the sleeves off his shirts.

All the time.

God forgive me. With that squirrel on his head.

You saw three in the morning, it'd be like a little sideway. Straight it up a little bit. Can't tell, Ken, you can't tell. They don't know it's not real.

Okay.

Yeah, even his brother. When I was in three twenty four, his brother was always over there getting detailed. He take the detail and study was thirty eight, right, one thirty eighty, go over there, take the detail to three twenty four and study.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, big study. At least one of us had to, you know. I mean it's the only room for one deputy chief for the family Roughs.

Everybody who were the bosses over in thirty You remember who they were when you.

Had Richie Gonzalez was over there, Wayne at one point.

You know who's right?

I remember that great, kay?

But John Pole, he was a really good guy.

From fast un richmal High.

Yeah.

Then we had May mcmally came there.

Later on.

I drove Jimmy McNally for a while and he became he'd become a staff chief, but I think he went up to deputy retired in the last year year or two.

He just got used to play volleyball with him all the time.

I told you, volleyball single guy forever.

Ye got married and I was like married, got like one hundred kids.

Yeah, did get married.

And late Bloomer, that's all.

Late Bloomer.

Were you? Were you?

So you in the fire house when Wayne Smith passed. Yeah, it does not have to be put a big hit that first up Bobby Dayton. Bobby Dayton passed. I came there just after Bobby Date passed. He was in a fire in Paul, Washington. He passed, but he was in the truck over at one thirty six. But then I was there when Wayne passed. And uh, it was tough because we did like housewatch at the firehouse. We had the journal there, everything else.

Guys that house.

Watch, you know, twenty four to seven. Hilly Pey, he lived for a few months in the hospital, was ninety five.

What year was that?

It was before I got on because the guy who was in who was turned around in the closet with him, I think his irons or his canmn.

Yeah, John Ferring, right, he he came down.

And he talked to the proby class when I was in there, he was he got turned around, right, he was.

I was on the job. I remember.

The ninety four What I'm looking at on the computer ten wamith what what.

Kind of what was that that?

They were on the floor above right or something?

I don't yeah, on the floor above, Yeah.

What type of building was it was?

It was Jens, wasn't it Jans?

Jan's ice cream was downstairs? Yeah, I remember Jan's.

Ice Cream all the way down by Myrtle Avenue.

Boy Queen's Boulevard over there, I think.

Yeah, it wasn't by Myrtles by Queens Boulevard, No, I think, yeah, somewhere off Queen's Boulevard.

I think, all right.

And then John Ferring actually he went to rescue Fall later on.

I worked with John over there.

His brother was in Menhead. Yeah, you gotta love the brothers names Menhead.

How is I came on with uh intense Pence? Oh yeah, he was intense. Yeah, he was good though. He ran a tight ship over there.

I had a good relationship with him over the years that you know, obviously being in the squad and running in with him.

He was he was always uh, we always had a good relationship.

Hill. He was a good guy, Bhill. He worked for a long time, right, yeah, not long ago.

No, we got out about the same time. But he was there a long time in the truck.

Yeah. Yeah, he was make sure everything was always organized, ran a tight ship.

You know. I was told me he could have been a sick guy.

But you know, a lot of guys, even with my nephews, guys get comfortable.

You know, he was there. He was the guy there, you know. Yeah.

We always say that if you're gonna make it, make a move, do it earlier, because you get too complacent in the place comfortable, especially if you become the senior man. You know, then you're like, you're really comfortable.

You never want to go.

I had the seat he had. You know, he's been there. He was there for at least twenty it was over twenty five years. He was there.

You know. I had to be Yeah, I had to be worked on Norma was on the side, Billy guys.

I love guys things that they do on the side. Man, you should do a show just on the ship that guys do on the side. What do you do all like skyde job Bob or something like that.

Yeah, dudes on the side.

What was I just ask?

Yeah?

Oh?

Uh so you got a couple of medals? Were they both in one? Thirty six?

With thirty six that which was actually in left rack And I want to say Richie got Gonzalez he was the lieutenant that day, Jeff Mice that had the can, and uh we got in there early, you know, and uh we went up. I want to say it was like on the sixth floor.

You know, I'm not really.

Positive, but I think it was on the sixth floor and the h the apartment door was open, and the hallway was charged. It was hot, and uh, you know, Richie was like, he was a great guy. He was like, come on, let's just go. So me and Jeff just followed him and we got in the apartment and you searched around and uh, I found a woman in a wheel chair and uh, as I'm taking her out, I guess the can was just about expired. It had like no water left in it and it just steamed up and the can't exploded.

It was like a bomb going off in the apartment.

It was so loud.

Is that when you exploded in your pants?

Right?

So I got with there.

There's the can there with all the guys that were at the job.

I don't think I've ever heard that before.

But they can't explode it.

Look at the can there.

You never had it in your hand. It was always down the hallway. I got one. I got one. That's crazy, man, man, Yeah, that is insane.

So chance they saved the can. Yeah, they got can still.

Wow.

Wow.

The guy all the way to left, the black dude on the left, I remember him, ju Ray Smith.

Yeah, we were just talking about he broke I want to say both his ankles.

Yeah, for the shift. Yeah, funny enough. Is I'm the one that guy I found him in the shift?

Yeah, I remember that guy. I remember him. He was always a cool dude.

Man, great guy. I still see him. I saw him not long ago.

Yeah.

Nice.

Is that lieutenant get promoted from No, No, he's still he was always a lieutenant betide. He's got a brother on the job and went thirty three that retired and Uh, his brother's on Facebook, but Ritchie kind of lost touch.

I don't see Ritchie's manure here from Richie at all.

He retired out of one thirty six.

Yeah, he retired at one thirty six.

Yeah, you know, did you wheel a woman out in the wheelchair?

No, no, she was out of a wheelchair.

She was on the floor.

So I carried her out and listen, I was still fairly knew.

I didn't even know what to say, you know.

So when I got her in the hallway and then down the staircase, EMS was there. They took it down the rest of the way, and then I went back in. I said, oh, Richie, by the way, I just brought this woman out and I handed off the EMS. Right. So then, uh, you know, afterwards he did his whole thing, wrote it up and whatever else.

After that he gave the.

Yeah. Yeah, so I didn't really think that much of it.

But then I went up.

That's when I got you weren't the medal day that year, and I got a class too for that, the Thomas Crimmin's medal. And he had a picture.

I think you had a couple of pictures with the family.

Yeah, I have this one and we have this one.

So yeah, I was saying that. Guys were like, oh, you're going to get the Bennett. You're going to get the Bennett. You're going to get the Bennett. And then like almost towards the end of the year, Richard grabs a baby out of a crib, gets the Bennett. Yeah, so you knock me out of the box the topper.

What did you get the huge bona?

Did you get the huge Bonaea?

But the guys were good there, you know, they showed up, everybody in the house, came to middle day.

It was a great day.

What year was that, Oh that was back in I would say ninety eight.

Yeah, I've made notes here about to try to look back on all my notes, but I want to ninety eight.

So when they first started talking about putting the squad in two eighty eight, what the guys had the guys feel in thirty six and two eighty.

Seven, There really wasn't a lot of a lot of discussion about it. It really, you know, I don't think

So you're fighting all the time, right, So it was kind of a tough spot to be in.

But it were originally going to put the squad in three sixteen, which I think would have been a better spot for the single house over there right by the Parkway. I would have been at home, and they do first to work over there. Yeah, I mean that what's so funny is that two it is not that far from one thirty six and the amount of work that I mean, yeah, right down the block.

Masspit was such a good area, right, Yeah, it was beautiful down here. Yeah. You know, I guess if you went over too, like green Point, you know, you go down into Brooklyn right there, you.

Got some work right there.

Yeah, but you guys went there too.

Yeah, we went there too. Yeah, Well we can beat him in there. But there were good guys because I remember I went there all the time as a dcon guy that has Matt, So I know a lot of guys that were into a even before.

I went to squad.

A lot of guys you know who he knew, Jack Cack Yeah, Bill mcgonell they feel I still see Phil every day, not often.

What do we always say about Jack hack Bro.

The nicest guy. He would rub your back and then you could say anything to me and be like he'd be rubbing your back at the at the at breakfast and he'd be like, he'd be like, hey, Jack, you know it was just what your old lady last night, doing all sorts of silly things to it.

He'd be going, you did well, God bless you. No matter what you said to him, right, he didn't care what you said. He always would a smile, a lot of golic. I need a lot of golic Golic. He always smell like colic because he's eat real golic all the time.

He's got to be gone too for years now, right Jack.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, dude, he'd be he'd be waiting by the house squats for the relief to come in.

He'd be out like his hand was on fire.

Yeah, good guy.

He was a sweet he really was.

Yeah, there's a couple of good guys over there. What the has bat when we became a squad over there. Well, and you were talking about Tito earlier, right, I remember it with the hair all the time. It was like perfect mn.

I just I was up at the Armory in Harlem for my daughter's track, and all of a sudden, I hear somebody go, hey, Louis, you know, and around and he's I see this quaff of hair like it's from I can't it's he still has it. He's gotta be fifty something years old the sixties, bro.

Yeah, he was older than us, right, Yeah, I'm like, dude, are you kidding me?

With this hair? Still?

You still?

But he started late with the kids, so his kids was actually even younger than my kid. So you know, he waited a long.

Time, like like you were saying, before I could get married.

Had that high pitch point.

Yeah I'm available, You're available all I don't know.

Yeah, my time, your time, anytime, over time.

I don't care your ti there. I think there was only a few guys from two eighty eight that went to the squad right one too.

Well, Jay win Stein had cancers and they just kept him on the uh. Other than that, so where's the second gramm you make? Was that in that was in rescue for all right, So let's not get ahead of ourselves. Any other fires that you can remember called to mind from one thirty six.

That were a lot of fires. I don't want to scare I've already getting low man, get.

Like any you have any old ship moments and.

Uh yeah, but you know what, like I was getting some time on and when you're with the guys, you know, you just go with it right and it just works out and you know afterwards, you know, you know it is you're just like, oh that was awesome job.

That was great.

You know, you know you never got jammed up. We thought no, not not really, you know, whether I was lucky or just you know good whatever, you were that good Jim. That's who were some of.

The guys who were thirty six. You remember that like really took you under the wing.

Or you know with truck work and stuff.

You know, there was an older guy there, Frankie Nips.

There was.

A lot of Chiefs were great guys, know me and Chief itally. You know Tom McNally, he was a good guy. John trip Tree, Brian malloy with Brian malloy a single guy. He was there forever. I think he only just retired recently. Keith Lippid he was in the engine, he was senior man. I think he just retired this year.

Wow.

Yeah, from all the way back then, that's a lot.

I'm gonna say.

He came there was a proby though when I.

Was Yeah, that's a lot of running.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

They're still running their ass off over there.

Yeah, working out of containers in a parking lot, right, Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, where is it? What quarters they use? No, quarters, they're up the block. They put content together and they're containers.

The firehouse is in the container, yeah, shipping containers, like shipping containers.

And then they have the you know, like housing over the over the rigs and both companies are in there.

Both companies are in there.

Yeah.

Did they demolished the firehouse?

Yeah they did.

God yeah, I think they just put the foundation in last week.

Oh my god.

Wow.

That's a shame. So you're saying something happened with the high rise they put next to it.

Right, Jim, Yeah, Yeah, I guess when they were doing the pilings for the high rise, they cracked the foundation in the firehouse and the back wall was coming down. That's then the firehouse. When I was there, they renovated that firehouse. We went up to two ninety two and Rescue four one thirty six was up there for a while because they were renovating, right, they did the whole firehouse, all the new new apparatus, floor, a.

New second member. When they did that floor, I remember that.

Yeah, that was funny. Second floor. They do handicap accessible bathrooms, wheelchair accessible, right, and they do brail on all the signs were in brail. Also. Yeah, there was no accent, no elevator to the second floor, so you're not getting up there with a wheelchair. What blind guys are gonna be in the firehouse like trying to figure out where they are.

That's how they that's how they make money off the city.

You need, but you know that sucks.

So uh when do you get the the inkling to go over and rescue for the itch?

You know?

I kind of because you were around the corner from those guys.

Yeah, yeah, and I we ran in with them a lot, so I knew a lot of the guys over there, and you know, Richie Eula, Tommy mccuarie, they were local to me right in King spark. I was in the volley house with them, and uh I kind of became friendly with Terry Farrell and uh they were like, oh, come on over, Come on over.

Come on over.

And then I had you know, wrote up a letter back then and sent it to It was Captain Corkran at the time, and nothing really happened, you know, and then uh, after that, Captain Hickey came there. Terry was good friends with Captain Hickey, and uh then I was able to come right over with Captain.

How much time did you have it at that moment?

Uh, I almost had like twelve maybe like twelve years that's perfect time. Yeah, about twelve years engine time, truck time and then yeah, yeah, and so it was a luck getting used to you know, like Ula was there. It was like the sage, you know, and uh right, but there was a lot of good guys there, and uh, you know, he really had a It.

Took a lot to learn the rink. It was so much on that thing, you know. Yeah, and uh, I couldn't even make Milner's name when you said that.

No, Milner, he was.

He was a funny guy. Mike Murray ur Yeah.

He's absurprised, he's not watching tonight, he is, He's.

In the chat.

He's in the chat. Yeah, Mike was a good guy. I was running the mic once in a while, I'll same minute event or something. Uh huh, you know, but uh, it was a great house. We had great guys there.

Who are the offices when you got there? Tickey, Lieutenant dot Dell?

Wow, Yeah, Timmy Kelly wasn't there yet. I think Timmy Kelly came after nine to eleven. Yeah, you poached him off of us after Yeah?

Uh who else was there?

Honestly, can't think who was about about? Harry Ford was a great guy. And you know what a small world, right. So I'm working there and I'm talking with Harry one night, and Harry would stay up all night long during coffee, eat whatever, and so about his wife Denise. And there's a whole Howard Beach connection with Denise and relatives of mine.

He was a great guy.

Yeah, I remember his got his son on the job, right, isn't his son of chief or someone.

Just got got promoted captain?

Yeah, yeah, I remember. I remember watching Eddie at jobs. I was in once seventeen at first, and then obviously going to two eighty eight. But it's such a big dude man, like he take up the whole door frame. He really was just a presence, Like I remember seeing him and just be.

Like big hairy, you know, great guy, great guy at the fire out, great guy to know, approachable, friendly guy, regular guy.

He's a slim down version of himself.

Now. Yeah, he's living down I think Saint Augustine down Florida, in Florida. I haven't seen him.

In a long time.

His sodden is right by me, so that's the only time I see him sometimes.

Yeah, I think it's songs like yet Cliff Rock and Surf, I think, right, yeah, yeah, right, Cliff Cliff is the one.

I think he had four boys.

Did he have four boys?

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure I had those three names, but you know, I'm not sure. Trying to think of guys. How about uh, Ray Strong was right yere.

Ray was already gone, but I got yeah, he was gone.

On him was gone.

Who do we have.

Who was there?

Well, you know Pete Brennan, he came there after, right, you know, I was there ready, And uh.

What about Mike uh what's his name from one seventy six trucks.

Leam Flaherty was there, Eddie Curley was there?

Yeah about with Pete that you were there with Pete or that was before you Pete Nelson McGlaughlin.

Oh, no, that was after me.

That was after I was in one thirty six one when yeah, yeah he got killed. Yeah, Tommy Williams got killed there.

That was just after me.

Tommy Williams.

He was a King's fawk guy.

How about Larry Archer he was there, right, Larry Archer was there. He was a lieutenant Dad, Larry. Yeah, yeah, I like the drill like two o'clock in the morning.

Yeah, that's like Garrow Hungary is the same thing, right that.

Morn Yeah on Garo, I remember him on Garo.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's a great guy man. Yeah, Yeah, Dennis Scalzo.

Dennis. Yeah, Dennis was dude, I tell you if you.

Yeah, he get a hold of you with those Mitch bro.

Yeah, I did, cause like I would like to buy and sell cause and I was Dennis.

All the time at the auction buying cause too. You know, really I didn't know.

Yeah, him and this other.

Guy always bought some calls, fixed them up and sold him.

Mike Travers QC Best. Oh yeah, Mike.

Travers, the angry, angry Travis.

Angry Travis got out. I think he got out and came back. I think he did. The only I ever heard that he got out came back.

He did get out and come back.

Yeah, Mike. I liked Mike. Michael was a good guy. Yeah.

I mean he would bunch the balls, but one all on. He was good man.

I used to talk to me all the time.

He was good.

Terry Farrell I used to you know, Terry was in dick Hills, so I used to commute with him. You know, I drive from King Spoke to dix Hills Volley House and we go together and then we picked up Hickey on the way in or whatever. But we always wound up riding in together. You know, so it's pretty pretty good.

So when you got to fourth did you think, you know, how olng did it take you before you felt like I'm sure you felt like the guys were watching you to make sure.

You were Yeah, it took a while, Like you know, I'm like kind of quiet, laid back, you know, so it really took a while. I felt like, you know, but I don't know, within the year, I felt like, you know, I kind of fit in, you know. Yeah, what about learning all the rescue stuff, you know how it took a lot, you know, but you don't think

I used to do them out in the trailers. Remember there were just trailers at the rescue school with a barbecue. Yeah, yeah, the rescue tree. It was yeah, it was pretty minimal, right.

Yeah. Uh so you had Hickey was there when you were there. Yeah, yeah, Brian Hickey, great guy. Louis Torres.

He was, said, Louis Louis Torres.

Yeah he retired. Let me tell you, like you want to talk about feeling old. But they sent out this group me having to like a get together over the winter at this Irish joint in like Beth Page. So I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna go check it out, find out I got This kid comes up and thinking, sir, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Louis Torres. I would be your father. Where does his son work? Rescue four? He's in four. He's in four.

Tomboke was lieutenant there right because he was.

Trying to get him for a while. He won't do it now.

If we got runs down to the rockaway or whatever else. Lieutenant Daldella had a house in Breezy, So we go down to Breeze and you gotta park down hend to like the boardwalk. He send it's two boys to watch the rig and we'd sit down on his deck and

He turned it down.

So let's talk me about yours. To be talking about your second grad yet.

No, no, I would say that was in April of two thousand and one on sixty six I'm gonna say sixty sixth Street, right by the firehouse. It was close right behind the two ninety two, and uh that job, Like you said before we were talking, we were riding a little heavy. Lieutenant down Dell and Captain Hickey.

Were working well us my lines, Yeah, allegedly they were working together.

Allegedly so Lieutenant Doutdell he was at the front door with the engine and you know whoever else and they were doing whatever else there. We went around the side. Captain Hickey's like, uh, what do you think do you think going the window? Like yeah, I guess why not? So he boosted me up in the window and uh, the place is already like rowing it's Collie's mansion. You know, like flames are already coming out the top of the window, and I'm like, you know, okay, still, I'm like, all right, yeah,

Game goes out and the room just like lights up. I dive out the window.

I don't even know how all those guys new to like catch me, but they like caught me coming out the window, and uh.

Thell walked around the side and it's like, oh, what's going on?

What's going on? Like, oh, you know, phen Gang just got this guy out, you know, in the room there, and that does like settle down, don't go back in just sit over there, relax, relax. And then that was you know, that was a class I got a Class three for that. There was no Metal Day, so there was no actually like you know that metals, So there was no name metal because there was no Metal Day that year.

But it was a Class three.

They should have had something, man, I know it was Uh.

Yeah, they they didn't really do anything that year because you know right up there yet Father's Day. Yeah, strads and I you know, a lot happened.

Oh so you were there for Father's Day but you were working there.

Yeah, I was there. I wasn't working, you know. I got to call at home and went in. You know, same thing with U nine to eleven. Uh, I was watching on the news in the morning.

You know.

My brother lives like two doors down from me, so it was at my house and watch on the news.

So it happened.

Him and I both hop on on motorcycles and we're flying in and like I think it must have been every fireman was in the h OV lane flying in. Yeah, and uh he shot off to go to one twenty nine and I went into four and I think he wound up getting sent They sent them guys to like Shase Stadium, a lot of guys got guys, went to shake stage over there, and uh I met, uh.

Met a rescue fall with uh no.

I can't think Dave Rainer and even I like we comment did some guy in a suburban and the guy in the suburban drove us all the way in there, and uh yeah, we wound up being in there and then you know, eventually met up with the other guys and everything else late at night.

But you ever ever take jim how you I mean even for us Kevin and myself. Kevin was at at Father's Day. But to think how you like sneak through these jobs? You know what I mean?

So many things right crazy?

Yeah, it could have easily been just.

Anybody. Yeah, you know, guys put up some of the pictures from the mutual or whatever else you just happen to be off or yeah, ication.

They called me on Sunday night, Sunday day to work ot on Tuesday day and I didn't take it. And Joey Hunter, don't you remember him?

Yeah? Yeah, I remember Joey Hunt.

Joey took it.

And uh, obviously, which one do you.

Want coop the pictures of the break down by nine to eleven.

It was even back then you really thought like, at least for me, those first couple of days, you felt like you were going to really do something, you want to accomplish something like yeah it was Freddy uh Lamina was on the radio and they were looking for like a welder like Jimmy, you there, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'll come over, I'll weld it, you know, and you know, different things. But it really didn't accomplish anything. It was too much going on.

Yeah, yeah, I had a picture like that. To have pictures like that too, it was.

Like pissing on the forest fire. Really, we weren't doing nothing. Yeah, when they brought in those those grapplers, that's when they started making any kind out.

We were doing five. But it was frustrating when they started like you would have like right, oll the sock companies here, but there for so long, and then they bring like a fresh company down, a fresh officer, and we were like stop, stop, stop, like no, let the grapple guy go. He knows what he's doing, you know, don't stop the guy every five minutes.

Ye no, I was saying like Jim was saying, like I would say, I mean we were there for three days straight. You would think, like early on, I remember thinking like we would find some voids here and there, like weird stuff, and he thought that not not that somebody, that somebody would be under there, you know, like, but it just never you know, the pretty soon you realized that that wasn't gonna be.

I remember walking in there, and I don't even know who the guys were, but we wound up grabbing like radios from a couple of guys.

Me and Reina.

We just kind of winged it, went off on our own and we would kind of buy where Rescue one was with that overpass was it was collapsed on the roof. Yeah, we went up and over there and they went down in a wool and I remember those guys from six coming out. I was like, holy oh, these guys come.

From like yeah J Jonaeson company, Yeah.

J Joneson and guy.

So I was like wow, you know yeah, And I actually got a call from a lieutenant in the firehouse, not from six. It's forty something. I can't remember the house, but the lieutenant actually called up Rescue four and he goes, oh, I heard you and another guy outside there when we were down there. And we just followed your voices, thirty nine Engine. Yeah, we just followed your voices. And I was like, okay, you.

Know thirty nine Engine rolle the collapse down too.

Yeah, you know, unbelievable.

Anybody bought that break the big crane in they built it on site, really thought something was gonna happen.

Yeah, and nothing. Well that's early on. That's an early on picture.

This is the first one. This is where that was balked, and then you actually then you can follow it up with the other one where that's where it was park from the other angle after the collapse, so.

That rig didn't get destroyed, Jen, No, I'm get destroyed now, but it's found in uh out in the Hall of Flame now right, Yeah, And you know what, you know, it was horrible at like somebody bought that at the city auction, I guess, and they turned out to be like I don't remember, like you guys big social media guys.

Shocking that still goes on with these Stolen Valley guys.

Right they oh, unbelieved.

You see him every now and then, right, you see.

And everything and then yeah about like they were there even one day in the fire department.

Yeah, they have like all these medals and stuff that not even anything to do with New York City or anything else, Like what is that? Nothing of OZ?

They give it speeches.

Yeah, people are Yeah, I guess.

People don't know how to They don't know at a ball, So you have to do that, try to scan man like holy ship, you had to rebuild the company, right who became the captain?

Right after that? Hegland Paul Hen came down okay, right and d Yeah, so you know Dano drove his brother a lot, right.

Then you know, like, uh, they were originally going to roll the squads into the rescues because uh, who are we talking to? Just recently that confirmed that. I don't remember, but I remember John Gain asking me, you know, he is we're gonna be looking to take the squads. Did would you want to come all day, I said, yeah, sure, what never happened. They just decided to rebuild the command, which I think was the better thing anyway.

You know, it was a whole strange time, Like it was hard, like when the new guys came, even like you know, being friendly, like I don't know, it was just all I don't know how to describe it. It was good guys, but I don't know.

Yeah, I had a little bit of a problem with the guys coming to I don't know, and I can't just understand why they were good guys, but I don't know if it's like these guys are taking the place of your friends, and you know, I got a little attitude, So I don't know what it was. But I remember getting into like a fight at one of the company meetings that we had, you know, and I fucking bow my stack over nonsense. It was over nothing, and I felt that way.

I'm like, why am I.

Giving these guys an attitude? They stepping up with.

Even the offices, like you know, they'd be like trying to like do their thing and be like but that that's not how we did it here, Like, you know, I just went with it, but you know, it was just I don't know, it wasn't a comfortable feeling at first, you know. Yeah, it took a while to get used to the whole new routine.

Yep, guys, put some pictures up because we got a lot of pictures, a lot of good ones.

I want to go with some of them.

Okay, well you just mentioned we'll go to That was Dan Hagelin.

Then Dan had passed away nine to eleven cancer, probably five years ago. I guess Dan passed. I was in Centapore Cenaport Fire Department.

You got buried right right across the way.

M hmm. Yeah, and that was you know, they reserved the chair for him at a lunch one day mm hmm.

Yeah. Uh, what're you gonna go back to? You get this guy too? You want to mention earlier?

That's buck face Fagan me and that's his son Patrick is son. Patrick's in the Bronx right now. That's amazing, that's so funny, man. Yeah, we getting old man that I know Fagan, probably over forty years that roof all right.

I have another good one for you, another family member for you.

My nephew James at the shops. He took one twenty nine to the shops and.

He saw four his ring desk. We got a picture.

You take a ship.

Eighteen years on the.

Job, now ship in the ed. I do side jobs with him. Now he's got a side job. He high his mate.

Side job.

Jimmy side job, Jimmy.

Ut. I got a little There's gonna be a story behind this.

That's Phil.

Phil mcconald's Matt e s U.

That's his brother.

They couldn't stand each other.

Yeah, they didn't get along. Apparently Phil rides with us. I see Phil a lot. I saw him the day we had our meeting Tuesday up in Blooming Grove.

Did he have like a black onesie on.

Jumpsuit, the jumpsuit that jumps you can tell stories?

No, Ray five Ray in the club.

Ray was a great guy, came to everything.

Wow.

Yeah, yeah, cancer bro. Yeah.

As a memorial Bobby Meadows, he was a Bronx guy.

I remember him.

Yeah, anytime we take a ride, if we see him, memorial, we always stop trying to take a picture around the country.

Yeah, sorry, missus fight for you.

Oh yeah. It was Ray's house with the family transport van had a lot of stuff.

Holy marcat the van.

Yeah, that was a trip that was a trip down to Washington that we did with a bunch of the guys with fire riders.

Run Zony, Yeah, the runs, the runs to.

The zone.

Nice Donny maw.

Yeah, a lot of the guys nice. You got it.

What was Donny Meyer, right, Donny Meyer?

Yeah?

Yeah, he was in three fourteen.

I remember.

Yeah, there's a ride pick Cracy. You got Cameron Even he's like the senior man over in too now close to it, Yeah, gotta be. Yeah.

I think he's a senior man, does he?

Oh? No, well, Jimmy, Jimmy's a senior man. He gave the speech at the centennial.

Okay, so he's gotta be like he's like number two I think, yeah, ok number.

Two gnother fire riders ride.

You guys get around man?

Yeah, all right, in California twice, Canada twice.

From here on your motorcycle the whole way.

Motorcycle, Yeah, motorcycle the whole way.

Holy, that's gotta be how many hours your driving day?

Seven hundred miles a day?

Girls, crap?

Yeah, it's a long. By the time you stop, you just want to eat, go to bed, and then wake up and do the same thing the next day. We got to do the same thing.

Nice, all right, before I have a little thing here, okay, yes, yes, yes, this is want to make sure before okay, here we go a little bit about the story.

Okay, that was uh this Poors of War and that's concert They trained service dogs for first responders a military and I was able to get in the program with my dog Henry. And uh, he's probably not quite a year there, not three years to train him. I still have him. He's he's six years old. Now he's a good boy. One hundred and twenty five pounds.

Now, wow, those dogs to get the hind legs right, they have problems lay.

Yeah, he's doing pretty good. I give him these pills and he does pretty good.

We give him to Louis too.

But you see he's laying on the couch over there.

He wants to play all the time. That's the problem.

When he puts the best on, you know, he's working. But when he don't have the best on, he just wants to flay.

Okay, and we y in a club flies the Blackhawk helicopters to the military, and he flew that on the twentieth anniversary of nine to eleven. He had the fight Department flag, the American flag, and a fire at his flag which we we made a shadow box. One of the guys made a shadow box out of it, uh, Steve bum And we want to donate it to the to the Rock. But we're just trying to work the whole details out to donate it so it doesn't walk away.

Yeah, all right, I.

Just don't know anybody. Most of us will retired the Yeah.

So I didn't know Mike when he was in four, but.

Actually when it was in thirty six, his father used to come to like multi unit drill all that was the chief, right, But uh, I think it would know Mike.

He would know me if I ran into him.

So maybe maybe I'll arrange it.

Look at this, this pee wee wants to hurt my feelings. Did you see this? The legs were bowed more than Kevin's after fighting seven hundred miles a day. Come on, pee wee, not for long, long baby, two weeks the replacements here it comes, Oh, all right, walking boat legged?

No more that the little funky little like gallop you got going on?

That?

All right? So that's a good picture because we you mentioned this in the you know description as far as the the.

NBC crew, Oh yeah yeah. Home was out on a run. So we got to run to Manhattan and we wound up going to Rockefeller Center, and uh, it took a long time to get out of Everybody wanted to take pictures.

Throwing their panties at you. Hold yeah, little kid, All right, Tom Jones, you know.

He got Lieutenant dal Della. You know you got Dan o'hegelan. Who's not there anymore.

That's Mendoza, isn't it.

I remember his name? Rough, I couldn't remember.

He was a one o three guy.

Yeah, bully, Yeah, I haven't heard. Where is that.

One o three?

Yeah?

Still trying to figure out where that company is.

Who's the guy in the front, Jim, he lives in the talking.

I'm trying to think of his name, getting like me. I wish some of the guys were for were in the chat because David know him. His hair was never out of place, he was never dirty. Great guy. Somebody will know his name.

No not Mike Fitzgerald could be that's what mild was coming in hot right, Yeah, yeah, he's right, he's right.

What's the chauffeur?

Mike was the chauff Mikey Milmer.

Yeah, yeah, Mike is right, he.

Is, and uh yeah, well that's what we you have. For the most part. We got a couple of young in pictures if you want you. We didn't get to take the picture him and his brother and this. Oh that's the old idea.

I think.

I think I remember that guy. I remember that guy.

That guy I remember. I don't remember the other guy. I didn't steal anything from you guys or anything that I not that I know. That was always a big thing though.

Right, there's my my two girls, you.

Know, yeah, this one I was able to pull back up, you know a little.

My brother with my parents when that wasn't Roosevelt, and that was a Welfare.

Island welfare.

Super Roosevelt back then, the super clursal, wake.

Look at it, look at a MAPA hair on your old man, Now, I know where you get it from.

Bro. Yeah, and my brother's bald right now, my brother that sucks.

It is your dad still around?

No, he passed.

So somebody was just gonna ask a question, I'm stealing stuff?

Yeah, God, I was gonna say, right, it's always the whole rumor, like a rescue came up. They came in, they took the line, They did this, they did that.

Shut your bottle off.

It was. It was always such like bullshit. You know, I wouldn't do that to anybody. But there was times we went in and there was just a line laying on the floor and she was like, can you guys take the line. Yeah, we're gonna take the line if you want to want us to take it.

But why getting a way of a good story?

Yes?

Why you know it make it look like you dropped the line in the hallway.

And when you're claim it on rescue, you go to a car accident and they're trying to start the hur stool, start and start. It won't start, they got no gas in it. Whatever else. Start a her stool and start using it like.

Sorry, you know they stole it. You stole the job.

We stole it.

We're supposed to do because because thinner is the faster you go, skinner gets there, you go. Yah, I stopped it. I was gonna do. I was gonna share a little blip of the NBC special, but I don't wants to get copyrighted.

Well it's a new show. No, No, it's an old that was old.

That show That was the one that they did with what the heck.

They were at a firehouse for like it. Ha'd be like three weeks they rolled with us really everything else. Yeah, yeah, that's the one with game with the Yes, Yeah, yeah, game with the brillo and uh oh.

What you want to? Where is it?

There is really quick use most people.

So when you guys, let the fire to get him out of the room. Anyway, We'll leave it at that so nobody gets into trouble.

Yeah, they follow They follow us to the plane crash.

There was a scaffolding collapse in the city. We want to That was one of the ones, like ye special, I was gonna go watch it, but it's on a b C. You know, it's on a videotape. Who's gotta be.

Him? He was in the in the sink.

If you say he was a mechanic too, he was a car guy.

Oh, you have to go back to the picture, right, which which one do you go on?

No, he was in the he's in the sink scrubbing the pot and he's scrubbing something.

He's talking about the souls. Right, you're gonna have a good meal or something like that.

I remember him at the Rock he was at the rock. He passed away too, but he was in two ninety two. He was a he was a car guy. Maybe somebody in the chat would if they say his name. I remember it.

Yeah, I missed the picture.

Sorry, I didn't see.

Yeah, I was trying to show too too much. I don't with them the dings, but.

That was always tough. I don't know about you guys, like you know two ID eight, but like when the widows came back to the firehouse or anything else, right, especially in the beginning, it was.

Like, what do you say, bring the kids?

Yeah, when I when I was in the detail, one time I was working in the rescue and it was we were in the bucking engine gotta run two ninety two, gotta run. And there was a senior man again I used to see his face all the time, and he said the lights went on and eddie' zelman was working and Eddie said something and then he says, yeah, well, you know, two ninety two, while the cougar is raw and the rescue snare or something like that.

I gotta tell you that they got stuck with a lot though, because we were out of court as so.

Much, especially if you've got to run down to the Rockaways or something. Man, just oh good, because you.

Guys got turned out on the report of a pin. Right, Yeah, So we would try to listen up on the radio. So if you heard something coming in, you know, maybe not maybe not so much a pin, but you heard something come in, it sounded like a good job multiple calls. Yeah, we'd head that way before you even got the ticket. So at least you got on the road because you could be in Rockaway then get job in a story after that, you know, and you're not gonna it's too far away?

Is a big geographic distance, Yeah, I think.

Like what's Queens is like one hundred and fifty square miles or something like that.

That's pretty crazy.

Yeah, I mean it was nothing like twenty four hours to put one hundred miles on the rig was nothing. Did you drive before you retired? I did? Yeah. How do you like driving?

I liked it?

Yeah? At night sometimes it was tough, but I liked it.

Garbage in your way.

When they were working on the b que and they had those jersey walls up wheels on the rig used to scream both sides of the wall wheels.

There there was no room it was too tight when you went through the tunnel. How about when you went to the Midtown tunnel.

Oh my god, you're gonna hit anything like duck and go through.

Jackie Robinson, I'm like.

No, we're good, We're good. Was Richie Schmidt there?

Richie came after nine eleven. Richie came. Richie's got some health problems going on right now. A good guy. Yeah, he does flags and everything else for a tunnel of Taois and all the other events. Yeah.

He helped build the the whole thing out with the rock too, that yeah, pavilion.

Yeah, rich is a good guy. Talk about guy with hands like a baseball man. Oh my god, you saying that all the time.

Yeah, big hands.

He was good friends with Terry Fowell. Oh that yeah, really good friends. Yeah.

So he was in uh one fifty four, that's where he came. My brothers in three or seven. Now, Richie would never talk to me when I saw him on a job ever, wouldn't say two words to me.

So we're pulling.

Ceilings in an apartment one day and he stops, he my brother just had a heart attack, right, So he goes, how's your brother doing him? Like he's stayable, he's doing good, he goes good, they go fuck yourself.

Yeah right, yeah, I took. I told to Richie a couple of times on the phone, like when he was at one fifty four and uh, he was asking like they were looking for guys to come over. And I think Timmy Kelly was already at the firehouse by then, and I think I talked to Timmy and Timmy was like, yeah, yeah, we need guys, you know. And then Richie came over.

Well, yeah, what's his name too? Came from four we we'veman Rob No, Charlie.

I worked with it well. I worked with his father a short time and his father was driving a battalion when I got to one thirty six.

Oh really yeah yeah yeah, a good guy too.

Yeah.

I don't know what happened to him. He got he got hurt of something I don't remember. Yeah, that had like a I want to say, a job in a factory or something like that.

Yeah, I remember that.

I remember, I don't off the mezzanine right or something.

Yeah, yeah, off the mezzanine or something like that. Ev like a door or something that was outward opening door or something.

Yeah, something like that.

I've seen him here and the Yeah he seems to be doing okay.

Is he married yet? Yeah, he's married, got a couple of kids. Whoa, he was the same.

It was like twentieth house by now or something like that.

Yeah.

Probably.

Yeah.

He always had houses, him and his father.

He was flipping houses.

Yeah.

He was just a handy. Yeah, that's for sure.

Yeah.

So there are a couple of guys from that house to go to rescues. Anderson went to three, Jollie and uh Richie went to four, a.

Couple of Jimmy what was Timmy's name?

He went to three. From there.

From must no, no, no, tim Uh, what the heck was his name?

I'll think it great.

Yeah, he went to rescue three from more and fifty four mm.

His son. I think his son was got killed in the a TV actually or something if I remember right, really sure.

I don't remember that. I don't remember who you was speaking of? Is uh detail in uh ninety eight detail?

Tim Wrenn? Yeah, yep, Rans, I say w r Ian. Yes, Well I'm leading to chat while you guys looking around.

Oh Scotty Maxwell too, Oh Scotty Maxwell, right, Yeah, Scotty. He was a good guy.

Scott he was too, Yeah, forty one, and then he went to rescue three as a lieutenant I believe, Yeah, my cousin Tommy mcgallisty.

That's so he did his rotation through there.

Right. What year was at he left?

Not doing a run?

He's still no, he's still on the job, all right, but he's probably got life. He probably got over twenty five on the job right now.

So, hey, bro, what was that stat that we heard about the amount of guys on the job pre nine?

Was just saying that it's, uh, eight hundred guys or something.

Yeah, something ridiculous. Only one hundred guys left on the job before nine to eleven.

That's great telling us that was that Chief Mayers or was that Leab.

One of them?

One of them?

Not sure? Somebody saw it off the icy Yeah, yeah, so let's talk about the fire riders before we finish up here.

Oh you know what, it was funny live.

I just tell you one thing you know I meant on the job one time that wound up being big on our job was Vigihanna. When it's a three twenty four one day, somehow he came there doing overtime and it's like, hey, kid, you're going to get the drill today on the satellite and I had my two months there. I was like, what.

Do you want me to do?

What?

And I don't think I realized who he was at the time, but years later then I realized, like who this guy is? You know?

Yeah, yeah, speaking of guys like that, we ran into uh Chaptain Mars down in the icy.

Still looks good, I told me, shrinking a little bit though now he's a little shrinking.

So good man. He and he loves the show, so that's good stuff.

Man.

I'll let's talk about the fire Riders a little bit. So you're still active Canada. Isn't it cold on the bike when you're freaking driving to Canada?

I mean, I had to eat a year, but you don't really need it that much. It's not bad, you know, it's really not terrible, and uh, you know what, it's just a good thing being with you know, you missed the fire house, right, so it's just like another one of those things. That is my nephew, myself. I mean, we all got the same tattoos there same time. Oh, my nephew, my brother and myself. You're all on the

For a couple of days we were there.

That's cool.

Wow.

And how that came about. We went out there at for Hally's ninety fifth anniversary and we met guys in the Milwaukee Firehouse and we became friends with them. So then after nine to eleven they invited.

Us to come out. So we went out there after that and they give us the.

Bikes to ride.

And so what is that thing about this? They're just what did you do that?

Sturtis multiple times, you know Laconia Late we just got back from Late George.

We donated to a marine up there was his.

Twentieth anniversary was a live day. So, jimm are you married? I'm married now?

Yeah.

When I retired, I wasn't married, and that's one of the reasons I've retired. But I'm married now for almost fifteen years.

Wow, you old lady must be cool. Let you drive around the country on a bike.

Yeah, she's good.

She's good.

She likes to ride on it too, so she does.

Yeah, she does at Old Pinky Tuscadero right right.

Days you know. Actually, yeah, those are plaques we had made up.

Yeah, I was just trying to find a couple of.

Specifically that we have those polished plaques. Anybody ever wants one.

We had.

A lot of guys have money bikes.

Some guys put them on a cause whatever.

Do you guys go off for donations? Like what do you guys do?

We do a raffle every year and we just finished up. We actually sold out already and the raffle is going to be actually this Saturday, we have a tuner party at the Plat Deutsch at one o'clock to five o'clock at the Plat Deutsch and Fink Franklin Square. Everybody's in buy it. They call it a tuner party. So I think a lot of people think it's like, oh, guy's gonna be working on their bikes. No, nobody's working on their bikes. Everybody's drinking and eating and having a good time, right,

Every day?

Yeah? Every day?

Right, yep, I'm trying to I found this one too. This was This is a pretty cool pick. Oh yeah, yeah, plane man, I still see it around.

Yeah, yeah, that's great blue right.

Yeah, jet blue, all kinds of jet plane.

We went. We went around with a lot of the a lot of steel that was stored over there at the airport.

You know.

We took down a quantico, We escorted all the way. We probably had like sixty guys at a club riding down police escort the whole way to want to go Virginia to donate steel for the memorial down there.

That's a short run California, but you know it's just a good way.

I'm sure you guys do this. It's kind of keep in touch. With the job keeps you guys, you know, kind of like the same thing. Otherwise you lose touch.

You know.

I still try to do. Over in Farmingdale, they had the retirees. They have the breakfast over there, Bouncing Unit, or we're gonna do a show.

I was talking to you, Ronny, Yeah, we're gon We're gonna do a show from there.

You just had what's his name on the Jimmy and Mont. He's always over there too, jim Yeah. And you know he the guy that I lost his son his house. Yeah, and we try to help him. He's like, no, I'm good, I don't need anything. I'm okay.

I actually tried when we had him on the show. I had been talking to him, obviously a couple of weeks before. I said, listen, let me know because we could, let's put it out there. You got to go fund me, let's let's do He don't want to do nothing.

No, he didn't want to do anything.

He didn't want to do nothing.

No.

Well, even down in flor I go to Florida for two months in the winter nice and uh see so many retirees down there and they have like a get together. They do this like they call a giraffe party underneath the bridge where all the guys get together. And it's guys from like their forties up to their nineties that you know, and it's just it's a good time.

You know what part of Florida is it.

It's down in pomp Coast, it's West coast. Probably get fifty sixty guys show up and it's a good time, you know. And I do a lot of the guys when I'm down there in Florida.

I'm going to ask you the same question I ask every retired guy.

Oh, here it comes.

Do you have the dream?

Yeah?

You know what dream?

That is?

The dream that you get a run and you can't find your bunker here. Yeah, have you had that dream? Jim, I've had that dream.

Eight Every freaking guy get on the show says the same thing.

We got it. Could you look into this.

Police for conspiracy?

Know they get it, you know, like it's like Sigmund Freud that it has something to do like they used to say, like fall out or something or something going on.

Like yeah, I don't know, but it is nobody retired that doesn't miss the job, right, everybody misses it.

Yeah, for the most part, yeah, I would say, yeah, well you gotta look at you're doing something for twenty five thirty years. Thirty five years, you got a routine. I mean, I don't know, it's just gonna.

I felt like I left, you know, for me. At the time, I got hurt, right uf I one fifty four was at the job. My leg went through the floor and blew out my knee. Oh man. And at the time I was a single dad. My kids were like six and seven and I had them.

On my own.

Yeah, babysity is everything. Trying to juggle everything, and you know, I went to special surgery and the doctor was like, yeah, you could fight to go back, but I wouldn't recommend it. And I'm like, you know, it's either go back and waiting another five six years to maybe get what I'm going to get if I retiring, now take care of my kids. So you know, it just worked out.

I just stim I.

Got out in two thousand and five. You know, my kids were still young man and uh now of course they were in their thirties. You know, they got houses and married whatever else. No, No, he's playing, they're working on it. But practice, it's just fun. It's funny. Thing like I got the place in Sullivan County, like I don't know, eons ago, and when the kids were little,

What was the website for that?

In case guys want to donate to the fire well, really we don't take donations.

We just do the raffle.

But it's New York cityfire Riders dot com.

You know I say that.

But if anybody wants to come to the party on Saturday platote o'clock, it's a great time.

I recommend the Bavarian pretzel and also meeting degrees out.

Yeah, recommend using the a t.

M there several times.

That your at M.

I have three of them in there, dude, I'm going there for the three reunion.

Yeah, we'll take.

It.

Takes a lot of events, right, what's that They do a lot of events there.

Oh, yeah, they do a lot of events. That newcastle is built out there.

Ye see that that machine. I can't wait.

Don't touch it. I have cameras on it. The roofing proof. How dairy use, son of a bitch?

Son of a bitch?

You you dick?

Anything else you want to throw out there before we do?

You know what else?

To exhausted.

He hasn't done as much talking.

And twenty years was he talking to Well, he's running now to himself.

Listen when I was when I was president fire Riders, I had the headset on. Guys are calling. I'm riding on my motorcide. Guys are calling, he texted me. Or at the headside. I'm like, I'm riding my bike. I can't.

No, it's like this, Jim, I'm riding.

I had a Harley. Uh, let me tell you. When we went to Lake George took about cold growing up there, Boy, it was freezing.

You have the windshielded, No, you don't have a windshield so cold. Yeah, when begin helps a little bit. It's like a dumble dumber when you get there frozen.

All right, So it might be that time, Johns, what time is that?

Uh?

It is time for.

Day day take away, my friend.

I would say, my old school tip of the day would be, really just check the rig, know the tools on the rig, make sure everything works, make sure the mess have you know your pack has air, make sure the batteries are charged, the other tools have gasoline, and just know where everything is, you know, because half the time companies pull up, not half the time, but companies pull up and they're not ready to go.

You gotta be ready to go.

You know.

It's definitely the jullet.

You don't use all that all the time that you wanted to get exactly what was saying about, guys, They took the line, No, you ran out of air, ran on the floor, you know, maybe you didn't want to go in there right school started. Sorry, I'm sorry, you know.

Oh yeah, all right, yeah, ezy stuff.

Guys for sharing your career with us. Broy thoroughly enjoyed it.

Well, thanks for having me on. You know, hopefully it was a decent show.

Ah, it was great man.

Yeah, next time you're going up to uh Lake George on a bike, don't give me a call because I.

Really have no interest to go.

Guys like you man, Oh George, it's great career. Thank you, God's anybody got a shout out?

And you should have our less commercial.

Oh do it?

Here we go.

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

Old school health and safety tip is watch next week's show. Ruffy won't be there, but we're doing the show and mental health. We're gonna emphasize mental health not only for you, but what you bring home to your wife and kids. And we're gonna have Vinnie Dunn as a guest, Mike Milner as a guest, and Anti Carbone and maybe one other president. Kenny Delaney's filling in for Luerfrano. We'll be all to say. I still go to counsel unit once

You know like that.

Well you know, I mean not go but it's not helping, kidding.

And we just got who we just oh you see, I just got Danny Sheridan.

When is that when put?

I don't know, he's on the list somewhere.

I got Miro two from Ah.

I don't know if you're say you have that one for for May fifteenth. Oh god, So speaking of which May fifteenth.

Oh yeah, I was waiting for you to kare it is there.

It is all right.

So this is a show that I and Louis will be here.

May sixteenth, seventeenth.

Sixteenth, and seventeenth at the Lancaster County Fireman's Association fifty third Annual Fire Expo. Fire Expo will showcase more than two hundred and fifty emergency service exhibits featuring the world's leading manufacturers of fire, emergency medical services, rescue and public safety equipment. Fire expo not only has displays, exhibits, and live demonstrations, but also has really handsome guys selling T shirts.

What do we get the cold smoke Delmonico?

We know we get the cold smoke Delmonico, Steak, wonder Ball. We'll be out there with the guys.

This is the worst looking at I ever saw by a hat like this. I'll let You're gonna free powl a soup finish. Sorry, that's where will be and that's all I got.

Give me a nice job.

Kid, Thank you, guys, appreciate it.

Doing well.

Ride to the end, bro, keep on Ryde keeps you young.

Yeap nailed the guys.

Yeah, lose some of that hair.

Well, you really comes ten years old of me.

He's got more ahead of me.

But anyhoy, that's all I got. We will see you next Thursday. Well Louis won't, but we will see you until then. Stay low and go all.

Right, everybody will here the big one. Thanks again, Jim, Thank you.

All right, guys, give a little I was gonna give a little shout out earlier. Sorry, I had a moment there for the victims for the FSU shooting today, so I obviously you know that's hit me. Impacts me a little bit different, you know than some other people. But I just want to give a shout out condolences to the families up there, and with that, just be better today than you wore yesterday. Have a good night, everyone, good night, Get on