Firefighter Gerard Schrang
Rescue 3
Laid
to Rest on
September 28, 2001
For
Him, Volunteering Was High Priority
October
3, 2001
Like
so many who perished at the Twin Towers, Gerard Schrang
was a firefighter's son who volunteered before he was old
enough
to vote and practiced search and rescue techniques as a form
of
relaxation.
Schrang
was a 25-year member and former chief of the Holbrook
Fire Department who served on the city's elite Rescue 3 company
in the Bronx.
He
was celebrating his 20th year as a city firefighter this year,
having served previously on the Bronx's Engine Co. 45, Engine
75
and 33 Truck companies.
"The
fire department was his life," Holbrook Assistant Chief
Jim
MacIntosh said.Volunteer training was a high priority for
Schrang,
who taught firefighters search and rescue and forcible entry
techniques.
The
father of two helped the Red Cross run a canteen during the
TWA Flight 800 recovery effort, ex-chief Stephen McGerty said:
"If anybody needed anything, [he] was always there."
But
Schrang also liked to play, and was a former captain of the
Holbrook Rebels team that competed in firefighter competitions.
He
left that behind a few years ago, McGerty said.
"We
get old eventually," he said. "That's for the kids."