Firefighter Kenneth Kumpel, 42, was a 10-year veteran of the FDNY. He too had come to the FDNY through the NYPD. This self-taught handyman had built the house he, his wife and sons lived in in Cornwall, NY where he also served on the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department. Apparently he also was handy in other ways around the firehouse, like setting a bed on empty soda cans so it would sink slowly when the firefighter lay down on it, and switching the hinges on the refrigerator.
Kumpel posthumously received a promotion to Fire Marshall after 9/11.