Firefighter Peter Bielfeld

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In 1985 Peter Bielfeld’s life was saved by Captain James McDonnell who pushed Bielfeld and another firefighter to safety seconds before a fireball exploded in the fourth floor apartment in a tenement fire across the street from Ladder 42 in the Bronx. McDonnell would succumb to his burns. 
On 9/11 Bielfeld should have been in the Bronx with his company, but he had rescheduled a medical appointment at FDNY headquarters just across the bridge in Brooklyn to attend the annual memorial service at this firehouse. Bielfeld had injured his shoulder in a fire two days earlier. When he heard about the Trade Center, he immediately asked to be placed back on active duty and hopped a ride into lower Manhattan. 
He stopped at 10 House to find some gear. When he found some that fit he left a note behind to say: “I’m borrowing this gear. Hope to return it. If I don’t come back….” He ended the note with a message of love for his family.

Bielfeld had spent his entire career with Ladder 42. Although eligible to retire with 20-years of service the next June, Bielfeld was planning instead to take the exam for lieutanant. He left behind a 2-year-old daughter.

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Firefighter Joseph Spor, Jr.

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Five months before 9/11, Gerard Schrang and his wife bought their dream house in upstate New York. It was for “the second phase of their lives.” Having promised each other to live to be 90, “he only made half of that,” she said. This 45-year-old firefighter was a 20-year veteran with the FDNY and a volunteer firefighter before he could even vote. The son of a firefighter, there was no other profession he ever wanted to do. For relaxation, he practiced search and rescue techniques. In the firehouse he expressed his love for his brothers with practical jokes. Volunteering was second nature to him and in addition to the second job he kept as a volunteer firefighter, he also helped the Red Cross run a canteen when the recovery effort for TWA flight 800 was underway. “If anybody needed anything, he was always there.”

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Firefighter Gerard Schrang

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Five months before 9/11, Gerard Schrang and his wife bought their dream house in upstate New York. It was for “the second phase of their lives.” Having promised each other to live to be 90, “he only made half of that,” she said. This 45-year-old firefighter was a 20-year veteran with the FDNY and a volunteer firefighter before he could even vote. The son of a firefighter, there was no other profession he ever wanted to do. For relaxation, he practiced search and rescue techniques. In the firehouse he expressed his love for his brothers with practical jokes. Volunteering was second nature to him and in addition to the second job he kept as a volunteer firefighter, he also helped the Red Cross run a canteen when the recovery effort for TWA flight 800 was underway. “If anybody needed anything, he was always there.”

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Firefighter Donald Regan

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Firefighter Donald Regan, 47, had four children and he went to all their games. If they played on the same day (which was not infrequent), he would catch at least one inning of each game. When they grew older and moved away from home, the local postmaster in Pine Bush, NY, knew him well because every week Regan mailed each of his kids a package or a letter. 
This 17-year FDNY veteran was known as a remarkably deep sleeper. At the firehouse he slept in the kitchen to be nearer the alarm so he could wake up when it rang. On the job he was considered fearless by his fellow firefighters and received several citations and a medal for bravery during his long career.

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Firefighter Raymond Meisenheimer

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Raymond Meisenheimer, 46, had been planning to retire at the end of 2001. A technical rescue expert on Rescue 3, Ray also served on the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team that was immediately called in after 9/11 to search at Ground Zero. At the Suffolk Fire Academy on Long Island where he taught, Meisenheimer was also responsible for setting the curriculum. In Hauppauge, NY, he was a captain and led their technical rescue program. A friend from the fire academy said Ray knew structures and knew when something wasn’t right. “If a building did collapse, he was one of the guys you’d want there because he would figure a way to get in there and get anybody out.”

He and his wife had been planning their post-retirement dream house with cathedral ceilings, arched windows and room to display his fire truck collection. Ray left behind two daughters.

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Firefighter Thomas Gambino, Jr.

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Thomas Gambino, 48, was a New York City firefighter for 17 years. Gambino was a union delegate and a devout Catholic who attended Latin mass every week. This father to two sons loved to sit on the beach at Robert Moses State Park and watch them surf the waves. He lifted weights and ran distance but he didn’t surf.
 His son, Thomas Gambino III, is now an FDNY firefighter. While in training he has said that he thought about his father every day, that he was his motivation.

Thomas Gambino, Jr.’s helmet was found in the South Tower.

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Firefighter Thomas Foley

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In 2000, firefighter Tommy Foley was featured shirtless in People Magazine’s 100 Most Eligible Bachelors issue. In 1998, when he was assigned to Squad 41, he was the one chosen to go over the side of a 17-story building to rescue two construction workers dangling on a broken scaffold 12-stories up in the air. He was a bull rider in rodeos, trained his dog to be a field trial champion, and took on bit parts on “The Sopranos” and “Third Watch.” By all accounts he lived life to the fullest.
 Tommy, 32, was an FDNY firefighter for 10 years and with Rescue 3 for three. It was “the best job in the world” as far as he was concerned.

I had the honor to meet Thomas Foley’s mother when Better Angels was in NYC in 2012. She gave me a video the family had made and told me this story. The details are a little fuzzy 18 months out, but I believe the kernel of the story to be true. 
Foley’s brother is also an FDNY firefighter. He and his father promised they would find Tommy to bring him home for burial. Day after day they were at the smoking pile of Ground Zero. His father stood on the roof of Ten House and scanned the pile through high rez binoculars for days. Finally he spotted a Rescue 3 helmet. The ground was still to hot to dig (cameras still melted when lowered underground) so an orange cone was placed to mark the spot. When they could dig down, they found a mask harness and a pair of bunker pants identifying Gerard Schrang. They also found Tommy, identified by the arrowhead necklace he wore. His brother helped to bring him out.

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Firefighter Christopher Blackwell

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Firefighter Christopher Blackwell, 42, “was born with no sense of fear,” according to his mother. Although he was drawn to things that were dangerous, his wife said, “he wasn’t reckless.” This 20-year FDNY veteran spent 13 years with Rescue 3. He was a specialist on collapsed buildings and lectured on the subject to firefighters across the country.
 Tim Brown reported seeing Blackwell in the lobby of Tower One. They kissed on the lips “because that’s what we always did to shock other people. (Chris) said to me, ‘This isn’t good, Timmy.” I said ‘I know’, and ‘be careful.’” That was the last Tim saw of him.

The father of three, Chris’s son Ryan was inducted in to the FDNY in May of 2013.

This portrait is one of two I altered for the painting because in his FDNY photo, Chris was the only firefighter not looking into the camera lens. I changed his eyes to look at us.

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Firefighter Richard VanHine

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Firefighter Richard Bruce VanHine was called “Bruce” by those who knew him. He was a real outdoorsman and especially loved to hike. Hiking only in the daylight hours, he had already completed the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut portions of the Appalachian Trail. Apparently he left Bibles in the shelters along the way. 
This 12-year FDNY veteran waited seven years between passing his exam and being called to service. It was a job he loved. He left behind two teen-aged daughters and a wife of 21 years.

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Firefighter Gregory Sikorsky

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Firefighter Gregory Sikorsky was a licensed pilot. The morning he planned to fly a Cessna with his younger brother, the plane had a dead battery so he had to jump start it with his car. Then they soared over Spring Valley and Rockland County, NY, where they grew up. He was also an-ex-Marine who served in the first Gulf War in the Marine Reserves. This sportsman loved his Harley along with skiing, and sky- and scuba- diving.
 A 5-year FDNY vet, Sikorsky had a 16-year career as a volunteer firefighter with the Hillcrest Fire Company upstate New York where he lived with his wife and young son.

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