Blog | Better Angels

Firefighter John Giordano

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

John Giordano, 47, was a resident of Newburg, NY, up the Hudson River from Manhattan. He had been writing his Master’s thesis in environmental science at Bard. This interest is why he had requested the transfer into Haz-Mat. “He enjoyed the science behind the job, analyzing so you knew the material to use to fight the fire before you got to the fire,” said his wife.

Giordano was a classical guitarist who not only played but taught, although lately arthritis in his thumb had made it more difficult. So a month before 9/11, he brought a piano home.

Castagna, a probie assigned to stay behind with the Haz-Mat truck was surprised to see Giordano at the site since he didn’t know he was working. “I said, ‘John, what are you doing here?’ He shrugged his shoulders as he walked past me, all geared up and ready to go,” headed towards the South Tower.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, John Giordano, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter Thomas Gardner

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Thomas Gardner was a 17-year FDNY veteran. With a Bachelor’s degree in biology and education, his plan was to teach high school science after he retired from the FDNY.

Over the past few years he’d acquired a lot of teaching experience only for now it was about hazardous materials and WMDs and his students were from law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. He was a Master Instructor for the IAFF and Louisiana State University. He also taught about HazMat at the Fire Science Program of New Jersey City University, and developed a web course for them which was one of the first of its kind anywhere.

His love of science also meant a love of animals, and at 21 he had been able to join an Audubon wildlife trip to Africa. He came back “a changed man.” He used to volunteer teaching children at the Bronx Zoo. He took his wife and two kids on camping trips around the U.S. year after year.

Gardner also had a funny side, producing a once-a-week radio show. He had even sold jokes to Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller and Henny Youngman.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, Thomas Gardner, World Trade Center, WTC | 1 Comment

Firefighter Martin DeMeo

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Martin DeMeo, 47, had been with the FDNY for 16 years. He came to firefighting after working several years as a volunteer EMT and paramedic. DeMeo loved the Yankees in particular and baseball in general. Every spring he would mail out a stack of cards to players around the country, and one by one they would get mailed back to him, signed, to add to the collection of cards and baseballs that lined the walls of his son’s bedroom.

As a firefighter, DeMeo never liked to miss the “big job.” On 9/11, he didn’t. It’s believed he was on the 12^th floor of Tower Two.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, LODD, Manhattan, Martin DeMeo, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter Dennis Carey

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Dennis Carey, 51, was a terrific chef. Both his firefighter brothers and family benefited from his culinary skills. He was always trying new recipes and had every issue of “Bon Appetit” from the past 15 years. Thanksgiving was his day. He handled the turkey, the stuffing, the apple pies and maybe even an Italian specialty or two to please his wife’s family.

There were four members of Haz-Mat Co. 1 who were scheduled to have their FDNY physicals that morning at HQ in Brooklyn. Carey was one of these who drove to the site in a Chief’s car, gathering equipment on the way.

This 20-year veteran had been planning to retire in January. He and his wife had begun dreaming of travel: 3 months in Aruba, another month in Europe. Their two children were grown and living on their own.

His body was found in a stairwell in the North Tower along with 15 colleagues on October 2^nd.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, Dennis Carey, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, World Trade Center, WTC | 3 Comments

Lt. John Crisci

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Lt. John Crisci, 48, had joined the FDNY in 1977. He had 24 years in. In 1989 he had been honored with the Chief John J. McElligott Medal for saving a little girl in a tenement fire. He had been made a Fire Marshall before Lieutenant and taught rescue techniques at The Rock.

That morning his shift finished at 8AM but he was still in the firehouse when firefighter Kevin Smith watched the plane strike Tower One from the open doorway. Crisci rode in heavy, along with Welty from Squad 288, and a probie. Not yet sure if they were being called to respond as Haz-Mat or Rescue, he ordered the probie to stay with the truck, which saved his life.

Crisci was a family man with three sons. “We didn’t take fancy vacations,” his wife said. “We just liked sitting in the backyard, swinging on the swing, drinking coffee.”

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, John Crisci, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, World Trade Center, WTC | 1 Comment

Capt. Patrick Waters

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Capt. Patrick Waters started his professional life in a job that would likely have put more money in the bank and certainly would never have endangered him, but when his number came up on the FDNY test he had taken years earlier, he tried to resist but the job “kept calling him” and he joined up. His wife said it was “almost disgusting how much he loved to go to work in the morning.”

He worked very hard to become a member of the Special Operations Command and was first a Lieutenant and then a Captain in all the Rescues, Squads and Marine companies. On 9/11, Waters was in command of Haz-Mat 1. He can be briefly seen in the 9/11 film made by the French Naudet brothers as he gets his assignment from the Command Post in Tower One. His remains were found on September 30^th.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, Patrick Waters, portraits, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Capt. Thomas Moody

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Thomas Moody, 45, had just recently been made a Captain. This 18-year FDNY veteran came from a family of firefighters: a father, uncle and both brothers were in the FDNY. He had been assigned desk duty for several months, developing a course to teach hazardous materials handling. With a degree in chemical engineering, that was his specialty. On 9/11, he was filling in at Haz-Mat for some firefighters who were taking required physicals.

Moody had four children: 12, 11, 8 and 6. He died in the North Tower.

B.C. John Fanning

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

B.C. John Fanning, 54, joined the FDNY in 1969. Over the course of his 32-year career, he worked in all five NYC boroughs, and was honored with three Medals of Valor. He once dove into the East River to help saved people from a downed helicopter. Another time he rescued a boy who was dangling from cables in an elevator shaft in a burning building.

Made a Battalion Chief in 1994, Fanning was in charge of the Hazardous Materials Operations Unit. One of the FDNY’s terrorism experts, he testified before Congress, was a member of Harvard’s School of Government panel on terrorism, and helped establish the FDNY’s protocols for response to terrorism & WMD. He was last seen running the Command Post in the lobby of Tower Two. All that was ever found of him was his crushed helmet.

Fanning was the father of five, three grown children from his first marriage, and two young boys from his second. With both of his youngest sons diagnosed with autism, Fanning had begun to dream of establishing a trust to build a residential home for autistic children on Long Island.

One of his older sons was a Suffolk County sheriff who spent four months helping to search the debris at Ground Zero. In 2010 he was forced to retire from the illness he contracted at that work. The week before 9/11, Fanning had let his daughter know the music he wanted to play when he danced with her at her wedding the next April. His choice was “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Haz-Mat 1, John Fanning, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, World Trade Center, WTC | 1 Comment

Firefighter Timothy Welty

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Timothy Welty, 34, joined the FDNY in 1993.

Very athletic, Welty was strong enough to do two-finger pull-ups or pushups, or raise a heavy maul off the floor with a straight arm. He enjoyed bungee-jumping, parachuting, mountain climbing, hockey, ski- and motorcycle-racing. Welty traveled internationally to compete as a member of the FDNY’s volleyball team. On the job he was known for his energy and aggressive firefighting.

Welty had two children. The youngest, his daughter, was just one-month old. It was not unusual for his four-year-old son to join his father at the firehouse and play in the kitchen while the men ate breakfast. He already had his own pair of hockey skates and practiced with his dad near their home in Yonkers.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, Squad Co. 288, Timothy Welty, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter Adam Rand

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Adam Rand, 30, grew up wanting to be a firefighter, and joined the FDNY in 1995. Rand was a volunteer firefighter in Bellmore, Long Island, in charge of training. Fighting fires was his calling. On August 25th, he had become engaged to his longtime girlfriend, with plans to be married in January.

His remains were found on December 7^th.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, Adam Rand, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, Squad Co. 288, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment