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. Pete Ganci Bill Feehan Raymond Downey 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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