Michael Scott Carlo

Fallen Firefighter Was an All-Around Good Guy
March 29, 2002

Michael Scott Carlo's eyes were tracking American Airlines Flight 11 as it tore into the north tower. From the rooftop of his firehouse on the border of Williamsburgh and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, the 34-year-old firefighter from Engine Co. 230 had a clear view of the first terrorist attack Sept. 11, his older brother, Robert Carlo of Whitestone, said.

The two spoke between the attacks on the World Trade Center. The younger Carlo phoned his brother to know "if [he] saw what was going on," said Robert Carlo, a member of Ladder Co. 23 in Harlem. "He was watching the first trade center tower burn from the roof, and he wanted to know if I was heading down there."

They also discussed the vacation they planned for Sept. 12. Avid sailors, they were keen on earning their captain's certificates from the American Sailing Association during their stay in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, Robert Carlo said.

Michael Scott Carlo was deployed to the World Trade Center shortly after his conversation with his older brother.

Carlo graduated from Bayside High School in 1985 and began working at Baschnagel Brothers Roofing in Whitestone after graduation until joining the fire department almost eight years ago.

To supplement their incomes as firefighters, the Carlos founded Michael Carlo Inc., a roofing company in Whitestone. "He was a great roofer," Robert Carlo said. "Customers loved talking to him, and he was really good with the other guys that worked with us. We learned a lot as we went along together."

Summer nights, after long days at the firehouse or on roofing jobs, were spent on the sands of Long Beach. They were part of a six-man beach volleyball team composed of members of the FDNY's Hooks and Hoses. They were also members of a traveling six-man indoor volleyball team sponsored by the FDNY that won a bronze medal at a competition in Indianapolis last summer.

Carlo had bought a home in Long Beach two years ago, his brother said. "If Michael wanted to do something, he'd do it," Robert Carlo said. "If he wanted a boat, he'd find a way to buy a boat. If he wanted to live on the beach, he'd find a way to get a house on the beach."

A bench on the boardwalk in Long Beach has been turned into a memorial to Michael Scott Carlo. On it, a plaque inscribed with Carlo's favorite quote by Mark Twain reads: "Twenty years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than the ones that you did. So cast off your bow line, sail away from your safe harbor. Explore, dream, and discover."

--Nick Iyer (Newsday)

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