Firefighting With Research Around the firehouse, they called him
Joe Knows. The chief of Battalion 48 in Brooklyn, Joseph Grzelak
had been fighting fires for 28 years and memorizing trivia for
even longer. During slow shifts he could be found at his computer,
researching everything from home repair to bowling strategies.
He was a history buff who read two newspapers a day, breezed through
crossword puzzles and answered all manner of arcane questions
for friends and colleagues (hence the nickname). "We encouraged
him to try out for 'Jeopardy,'" Chief Grzelak's wife, Joanne,
said. "He'd watch it, and most of the time he was right on the
money." Chief Grzelak, 52, had a mathematical mind that benefited
the men he supervised. "He was very rational about fighting fires,"
Mrs. Grzelak said. "When the younger guys would ask him how to
approach a certain situation, he always came up with the best
advice." When he raced to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11,
Chief Grzelak took a binder full of research he had compiled over
the years about fighting high-rise fires. It was found, Mrs. Grzelak
said, in his crushed car. Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES
on December 13, 2001. BATTALION CHIEF JOSEPH GRZELAK, 52, of New
York, was in a bowling alley in 1970 when he saw a woman and told
his friends he would get a date with her. He did better than that
#8211 the two were eventually married. Grzelak, a Vietnam veteran,
began his career with the New York Fire Department in 1973. "I
didn't just lose my husband that day," Joanne Grzelak said. "I
lost my best friend." Grzelak had earned citations for lifesaving
heroics during his career. A trivia buff, he even earned the nickname
"Joe Knows" from his fellow firefighters. "He was the perfect
combination of a father and a friend," said his daughter Debra
Grzelak. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press
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