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.”
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