Firefighter Raymond York

343 York fb

Raymond York, 45, spent almost two decades with the FDNY. He had planned to retire at the end of the year. Alphabetically York is the last of the 343.

On 9/11, York was still assigned to light duty while he recovered from an injury and was working at the Fire Zone, the FDNY store in Rock Center. It turned out that teaching fire safety to kids was almost a second calling for “Fireman Ray.” He was apparently quite good at it. When the Towers were hit, York hitched a ride downtown with a TV crew heading south. When they got stuck in traffic, he caught a ride with an ambulance and reported in to the command post. He was found on 9/12 under the rubble the North Tower piled on West Street.

“He loved his family, his country, the FDNY, and of course, the Yankees,” his wife said. “When he loved something, he loved it 150 percent.”

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