HEATHER
CASPI
Taken from Firehouse.Com News
Among
the hundreds of missing FDNY firefighters, the few that
have officially been confirmed dead as of Thursday include
four of the most respected leaders of the department.
FDNY
Chief of Department Pete Ganci, 1st Deputy Commissioner
Bill Feehan and Battalion Chief Raymond M. Downey, FDNY
Special Operation Commanding Officer, were killed as well
as Father Mychal Judge, one of the Department's Chaplains.
Ganci
was a 30-year veteran who has a firefighter son with FDNY,
and Feehan was a 40 year veteran, according to the NY Daily
News. FDNY said they would release more information about
the officials Friday.
Downey
headed FDNY's FEMA USAR team and was one of the nation's
foremost experts in emergency response to terrorism. He
had been involved in numerous rescue operations, including
the previous bombing of the World Trade Center and the Oklahoma
City Federal Building bombing. He served as operations chief
at the Oklahoma disaster site for 16 days. Downey's sons
are also FDNY firefighters.
Mychal
Judge, a Franciscan priest and the department's chaplain,
was killed by a large piece of debris from the tower's collapse
as he was giving last rites to a firefighter, according
to the New York Daily News.
Rescue
4 in Queens, which lost two firefighters in the Father's
Day blaze, reported that between seven and nine firefighters
were missing from the unit on Tuesday.
Chief
Downey, who was there to comfort the city's Bravest after
that tragedy, was this time a victim.
After
the Father's Day explosion that killed three firefighters,
Downey said, "You say to yourself, 'Not me.' But, when
the unexpected happens there's nothing you can do about
it," reported the NY Daily News.
"I
guess that's the fate we all live with."
The
paper also reported missing Capt. Timothy Stackpole, who
recovered after falling into a flaming Brooklyn basement
that killed two colleagues three years ago, and Capt. Fred
Ill of Ladder 2, who recently crawled under a Manhattan
subway train to save a man whose legs were severed.
"I
lost six members of my company," Lt. Tom Beirne of
Ladder 132, who was searching at the scene, told the NY
Daily News. "And three of my brothers-in-law are in
there. I'm retiring. ...This is unimaginable."
At
Ladder 24, Engine 1 on W. 31st St., firefighters said they
had lost three of their brothers.
"We
dug for hours, and we couldn't find anybody," Joe Boneillo
of Ladder 24 told the NY Daily News. His eyes glistened
with tears, and he put his hand over his mouth as he added,
"All we found were helmets."
FDNY
officials said they were unsure when they would officially
release the names of the missing firefighters, and said
the decision would be up to Mayor Giuliani.
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