Can you talk about where you were and what your experience was?

We heard this roar.

We looked up, saw the building coming down.

We ducked into the garage that we had set up as an area of refuge in case.

And smoke and dust just enveloped us all.

But I could hear Chief Gansey's voice.

Cleared.

with 343 members so from your perspective as a senior leader what do you want newer younger members of the fire service to understand about our obligation to the families and to remembrance

And

the reason I survived was maybe to help rebuild the department.

But also the help that I had for my family.

You know, I was never home.

My wife took care of our kids.

and all the stuff that I used to help do, I wasn't here to do that.

So I always knew that in the back of my mind.

so september 11th has expanded the imagination specifically of ny uh i'm sorry for nypd but also fdny what did september 11th change about how fdny now operates

Talk a little bit more about that.

Well, we knew that.

You know, the commanders at the scene knew that these fires were fires like we had never seen before.

You know, each plane, up to 20,000 gallons of Jeff fuel and all of the combustibles in those buildings, how high those planes had hit.

We had to make our way up there.

And even the standpipes that provide water to us on those upper floors were compromised.

The repeated systems that allowed us to use our radios were compromised.

How did you get through it?

And, you know, what kind of stuff are you going to be doing on the 11th? I mean, how big? Well, the

11th, you know, the 11th, well, this year is going to be totally different, Jay.

We're having our fire department's 25th commemoration at the Ferry Hook Stadium in Staten Island.

uh, in the afternoon, four o'clock in the afternoon on the 8th.

We did it on the 8th because, or they did it on the 8th because they wanted to make sure we had a rain date in case, uh, it rained.

Uh, so we'll be there with our families on the 8th, four o'clock.

Um, I'm sorry, that's the 9th.

Do you remember what your mindset was when you first heard?

But why do this instead of some other damn thing?

Well, I will tell you.

I came out of high school and my first initial reaction was I wanted to become an accountant.

And I was very good at it.

I started out in Pace University and my brother became a firefighter.

And He introduced me to the fire service and told me how good it was.

I was in Vietnam at the time when the test was coming out, wrote me a letter and says, you got an application that's coming, you're going to have to file it soon.

What should they do at the first hint of something like this?

Every other goddamn thing has changed.

Yeah.

Well, well, first of all, when I r- came in the department in 1969, I had six weeks of training.

That's all we had was six weeks, and now they have 18 weeks.

And we had, we never had what we call bunker gear, where you're fully encapsulated to prevent you from getting burns to your legs, to your back, to your neck.

Uh, we have, w- when I came on, there was a, you know, there was a mask, but it was a very rudimentary mask.

Now we have state-of-the-art masks.

What should they do at the first hint of something like this?

Every other goddamn thing has changed.

Okay.

Yep.

Well, well, first of all, when I re- came in the department in 1969, I had six weeks of training.

That's all we had was six weeks.

And now they have 18 weeks.

And we had, we never had what we call bunker gear, where you're fully encapsulated to prevent you from getting burns to your legs, to your back, to your neck.

What should they do at the first hint of something like this?