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Firefighter Jonathan Ielpi

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Jonathan Ielpi, 29, was a very talented hockey player who gave it up completely when he joined the FDNY just so he would never injure himself and impair his work as a firefighter. That’s how much he loved the job. He came by the job “honestly” – his brother’s a firefighter as was his father – well-decorated and five years retired on 9/11. Ielpi was a six-year veteran of the FDNY but had been a firefighter for twice that, joining the Great Neck Vigilant Volunteer Fire Department on Long Island when he was just 17. By 9/11 he was their Chief. This son of a firefighter had two sons of his own, aged 3 and 9. Jonathan called his father that morning. “Turn on the TV,” he said, “we’re going to the World Trade Center.” “OK, buddy. Be careful.” his father answered.

Lee Ielpi – Jonathan’s father – arrived at the WTC about 20 minutes after the second collapse. He was there every day for the next nine months, bonding with other firefighter fathers looking for their sons. Jonathan’s body was found intact in a fragment of a stairwell in the South Tower on December 11^th, three months to the day after the disaster. Lee stayed on the job looking for other sons for six more months.

In time, Lee was one of the founders of the September 11^th Families Association which created the Tribute Center next to Ten House down at Ground Zero. Jonathan Ielpi’s turnout coat and helmet are on display there: www.tributewtc.org.

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

Firefighter Joseph Hunter

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Joseph Hunter, 32, was 6’2” and a “stunningly handsome” bachelor. He loved fire trucks from when he was a little boy and would race his Big Wheel to the corner to watch every time he heard the siren wail. Later he would follow them as far as he could on his bicycle.

At 18 he joined the South Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department where he was the hydrant man extraordinaire for the “Rascals” in the annual drill races. “Joe was referred to as the best hydrant man in Nassau County, which meant he could get off the truck, get the hose on the hydrant and turn on the water in fractions of a second.” This is something he had practiced as a kid, setting up his own drill team in his backyard, practicing with neighborhood kids using his dad’s ladder, the little red wagon and the garden hose. He had always been serious about firefighting.

Hunter had six years in the FDNY, the last two in Squad 288. There’s a short video clip that has had wide play of Hunter and two others from Squad 288, in gear, walking towards the South Tower.

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

Firefighter Ronnie Gies

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Ronnie Gies, 43, graduated Probie School in 1988 and by 1990 had moved into Special Operations with Squad 288 in Queens. For 25 years, Gies had also been a volunteer firefighter in Merrick, Long Island where he lived. He was Chief of Department there twice. When his own house burned down in 1999, the hardest thing for Gies was to be the recipient of favors and the charity of his neighbors and friends. He was much more comfortable with and used to being the one who helped others.

Thankfully he had a lot of carpentry skills and he built his family a new home, including a large finished basement for his three sons, “the boys,” aged 19, 17, and 14. “They were what he lived for.”

His promotion to Lieutenant was made September 10^th, but he never knew. It was awarded to him posthumously later that fall.

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, Ronnie Gies, Squad Co. 288, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Lt. Ronald Kerwin

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Lt. Ronnie Kerwin, 42, was “the fun parent” according to his wife, always suggesting family outings. Some of these were spontaneous, some were planned. All were fun.

Appointed in 1981, Kerwin was a 20-year veteran with the FDNY and a 16-year veteran of the Levittown Volunteer Fire Department, their chief for the last eight years. He was made a Fire Marshall in 1993 and a Lieutenant in 1997. Accepted into Special Operation Command in 1999, Kerwin was hand-picked to join the newly formed Squad 288 in Queens.

Kerwin was a graduate of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the father of three: 12-, 9- and 6-years-old.

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, Ronald Kerwin, Squad Co. 288, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter Durrell Pearsall

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Durrell Pearsall, 34, was called “Bronko.” At 6’2” and 285 pounds, he could bench press 455 “easily.” He dreamed of becoming a fireman from an early age. Following in his father’s footsteps, he began his career as a volunteer with the Hempstead Fire Department on Long Island. He received numerous commendations and two Medals of Valor. He was also a fire educator for Nassau County.

Durrell joined the FDNY in 1993 and was a member of Squad 1 before joining Rescue 4. He was studying for the FDNY Lieutenant exam. Bronko was co-captain of “The Bravest Football Club” and a devoted fan of Notre Dame football. Proud of his Irish heritage, he played the snare drum in the FDNY’s Emerald Society Pipe and Drums. All surviving members of the band gathered outside his funeral at St. Patrick’s to “pipe him to Heaven.”

“Bronko” was finishing his overnight shift the morning of September 11th when the call came in. Without hesitation he volunteered to respond anyway. His family crest, pierced through with the words “Death before Shame” in Gaelic was tattooed on his right bicep.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, Durrell Pearsall, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, Rescue Co. 4, Rescue Four, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter Peter Nelson

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Peter Nelson, 42, had 15 years with the FDNY, all spent at Ladder 151. He was transferred to Rescue 4 only in July. His father was a retired FDNY assistant chief. Both his father and brother were firefighters and Nelson had begun his firefighting career at 18, by volunteering in Huntington Manor, L.I. He was a third assistant chief.

On 9/11, Nelson was working overtime because he had a new baby on the way. Although he had proposed several times, he married his longtime girlfriend just in August. She had finally accepted after they attended the funeral for the Rescue 4 firefighters lost in the Father’s Day Fire that year. It could have been Nelson, she realized.

Nelson was a gleeful father-to-be. “He talked to my belly every day. ‘I love you, Lyndsi. Treat Mommy well today,’ he would say.” Labor pains began during his memorial service on October 5th, and Lyndsi was born three hours later. On October 25th they found his remains.

Nelson also left behind two teenaged children from his first marriage.

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, Peter Nelson, portraits, Rescue Co. 4, Rescue Four, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter William Mahoney

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

William J. Mahoney II, 37, was a 15-year FDNY veteran.

Mahoney had previously worked as a NYPD scuba diver, skills he also used with the FDNY, assisting with the search and recovery effort after the crash of TWA Flight 800. “He was part fish.”

This father of four was a volunteer firefighter with the Lakeland Fire Department. He loved baseball and played in 2 adult leagues. For good luck, his wife’s name was written on the inside of his glove and he insisted that everyone in the family had to touch his bat before he would play. He also coached his kid’s teams. “He wasn’t one of those screaming Little League coaches,” friends recalled. “He preferred the quiet approach, taking a kid aside and giving him a confidence boost and some inspiration.”

Mahoney was a cabinet maker and ran a tent rental business on the side. His body found at the end of October.

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, Rescue Co. 4, Rescue Four, William Mahoney, WTC | 2 Comments

Firefighter Terrence Farrell

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Terrence Farrell, 45, was the father of two. As a transit police officer, Farrell had specialized in disasters, excellent preparation for joining Rescue 4.

When Farrell first joined the FDNY, his blood was added to a donor bank for possible bone marrow transplants. In 1993 he learned he was a match for a little girl with t-cell lymphoma. If he donated his marrow he could quite possibly save her life. He did and a year later he learned she was pronounced cured. She and her family flew to New York to meet him and they all had lunch at the World Trade Center. After 9/11, firefighters raised money for airfare so that family could fly back to New York for his funeral.

The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund distributes donated equipment to small and rural fire departments around the country. They also provide scholarships to the children of firefighters and direct financial assistance to fire departments, individuals and organizations in the fire service. www.terryfund.org

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, Rescue Co. 4, Rescue Four, Terrence Farrell, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment

Firefighter Peter Brennan

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Peter Brennan, 30, began his firefighting career at 16 when he joined the Lakeland Volunteer Fire Department. The Hauppauge Fire Department awarded him the 2000 “Medal of Valor.” More recently, he’d stopped at a fire and – still in street clothes – saved three trapped firefighters. For this he was named their 2001 “Fireman of the Year.”

Brennan joined the FDNY in 1995 after a couple years in the NYPD. A charter member of Squad 288, he had only recently joined Rescue 4.

Brennan was pursuing a degree in fire science technology and taught technical rescue at the fire academy. On 9/11, Brennan was coming off a long vacation and “itching to get back to work,” according to his wife. He was filling in for a colleague that morning.

He was awaiting the birth of his second child, a son, born on Christmas Eve, Pete’s birthday.

When Better Angels toured with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, I had the pleasure of spending hours with Pete’s big brother Vinny, a retired FDNY firefighter. From him I know Pete had a thick black mustache that was missing from his FDNY photo, and my painting. “He was a funny guy, a practical joker.”

His remains were never found.

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, Peter Brennan, portraits, Rescue Co. 4, Rescue Four, World Trade Center, WTC | 2 Comments

Lt. Kevin Dowdell

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Dawn Siebel

Lt. Kevin Dowdell was 20 years in and didn’t want to retire. He loved Rescue 4. He never put in for captain because he didn’t want to leave Rescue. “I’d rather be a happy lieutenant,” he often said. In the course of his long career, Dowdell received 20 citation bars and a medal for rescuing a woman after a diner exploded and collapsed. Along with other rescue specialists from the FDNY, he went to Oklahoma City as a member of FEMA to help in the recovery of victims.

On the side, Dowdell had a construction business.

He loved to go surfing with his two sons. When they took up the bagpipes and snare drum, he joined in with a bass drum so he could spend time practicing with them and march in the parade in his kilt. One of those sons would later join the FDNY. The only thing of Dowdell’s ever found in the ruins was one of his tools.

Posted in Better Angels Stories | Tagged 343, 9/11, better angels, Dawn Siebel, FDNY, firefighter, firefighters, firefighters of 9/11, Kevin Dowdell, LODD, Manhattan, memorial, NFFF, paintings, portraits, Rescue Co. 4, Rescue Four, World Trade Center, WTC | Leave a comment