Firefighter Adam Rand
Squad 288
(from Legacy.com)
Adam
Rand always wanted to be a firefighter.
When
he graduated from high school, he joined the volunteer fire
department in his Bellmore, N.Y., neighborhood. Even after
Mr. Rand, 30, became a member of the New York City Fire Department
in 1995, he continued to volunteer in Bellmore. For Mr. Rand,
fighting fires was a calling.
He
reveled in the camaraderie and in learning new techniques
that he could teach to younger firefighters.
Mr.
Rand's specialty was rescue. On Sept. 11, he joined his fellow
members of Squad 288 from Maspeth, Queens, at 2 World Trade
Center. He was trying to evacuate people when the building
collapsed.
"If
he had to die, he died doing something he loved," his
mother, Mary Ann Rand, said.
Mrs.
Rand said that in addition to his devotion to firefighting,
her son lived a life of full appreciation for other activities,
like skiing, fishing, hunting and preparing for his forthcoming
wedding.
At
the firehouse in Bellmore, Mr. Rand will be remembered for
his legendary Halloween costumes. He once arrived at the annual
party wearing a red wood box. Mr. Rand had cut out a square
hole on the back of the box so that his face could be seen.
He was supposed to be the missing child on the back of a milk
carton.