On flight home from a conference, I was sitting in my favorite exit row seat trying to finish a book I started on the trip. The book “Fireman” was written by George Kreuscher, a friend of mine who served for more than 30 years with the FDNY in a variety of busy companies, including Engine 230, Ladder 102 and Rescue 1. As I started to read this book, I was instantly transported back to my early years with the FDNY.
Many of the incidents, emergencies and fires that George writes about are familiar to me because I was actually there, or they were well known historical events that every member of the FDNY knows about. Early on he talks about the Waldbaum’s Supermarket fire in Brooklyn. This tragic and infamous fire occurred in 1978, the year before I was appointed to the FDNY, and it is one of the FDNY’s saddest and most well known fires.
As I read on, I start to discover so many new and interesting details that I never knew about this deadly day. Along with these facts, I also begin to see the names of so many men I knew and worked with on the job. Jimmy Curran, a lieutenant with R1, was the boss that day in Brooklyn. Jimmy was a dear and cherished friend whom I think about often. Then I read names like Jack Klehaas and Pete Bondy, whom I know from R2, and Tommy McTigue of R3 whom I worked with.
The fire at Macy’s in Manhattan was another familiar fire George wrote about. Again, this was just months before my time on the job began—a tragic and memorable fire where a fireman lost his life. I remember watching the news coverage from Florida, where I was a firefighter in Titusville. The fire story includes dramatic details that I was unfamiliar with and again, the names: Steve Casani, a rescue firefighter and officer; Norman Newkirk, who I’m sure never really knew me but whose name and face I remember well; Lt. Tony Limberg of R1, who years later would call me as a new lieutenant and invite me to join the new special operations command; Battalion 9 Chief John O’Rourke, who would later become the FDNY chief of department and who was an inspiring role model to me throughout my career.
George then writes about the call on the Lower East Side where Marty Celic would die at a vacant building fire. Marty was assigned to L-18 where I landed my first assignment as a lieutenant years later. George writes that on that day, Lt. Richie Bittles was the officer covering in R1. I later worked with Rich in E34/L21 where I was a probationary fireman. Battalion Chief Bill Grimes of B9 released the Rescue to respond to the fire where Marty was killed. I knew chief Grimes, too.
Many times throughout this book George talks about September 11, 2001. In doing so he mentions Chief of Department Pete Ganci, First Deputy Fire Commissioner Bill Feehan and Captain Al Fuentes. He writes about his officers, among the Captain Brian O’Flaherty, Jimmy Rogers, John Cerato and his fellow firemen, including Paul Hashagen, Jack Theobald, Jay Fischler, Paddy Brown, Ernie D’Maria, Tommy Prin, Richie Evers, Jack Boyle and Joe Angelini. Every other name I read I knew or I have worked with or I have even become good friends with. Some of these men are retired like myself, some are still active with the FDNY, and some are no longer with us. I am continuously pulled into the pages of this book, as I read the descriptions of the firehouse events and the fireground situations, but mostly from the names of the men who ride the rigs, climb the ladders, pull the hoselines and perform the duties of an FDNY fireman.
One of the most touching parts of the book is when George talks about his son George who served with E93 in Manhattan. Young George was badly burned when a Molotov cocktail was thrown into his apparatus one evening as they responded to an alarm. A year later, he returned to duty and five years later, his injuries forced him into retirement.
Before leaving the hospital burn unit, George was visited by Mike Daly from the Daily News. He asked, “What is it that you love about the fire department?” George closed his eyes and when he slowly opened them again he said, “the men.” Funny, I was just thinking the same thing—“the men”!
