Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief Joseph R. Marchbanks Jr.

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
November 12, 2009
Someone To Brag About
Joseph Marchbanks Jr. was a Battalion Chief in a Harlem firehouse, but he preferred to be called a firefighter. A 22-year veteran, Chief Marchbanks garnered four promotions by the time he died at age 47, but “he wasn’t one to brag,” said his wife, Teresa.
Still, Chief Marchbanks had [...]

Firefighter of the week – Dep. Chief SOC Charles L. Kasper

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
November 3, 2009
Granddaddy’s Trains.
Last year at Christmastime, Deputy Chief Charles L. Kasper of the Fire Department’s Special Operations Command went out and bought a set of trains.
They were not for his 425-person division, which races to the scene whenever there is a major catastrophe and already owns a huge collection of red-painted fire [...]

Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief Battalion 49 Joseph Grzelak

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
October 28, 2009
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 [...]

Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief Battalion 9 Edward F. Geraghty

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
October 19, 2009
‘His Talent Was His Mind’
Several years ago, Battalion Chief Edward F. Geraghty was put in charge of the Fire Department’s training school on Randall’s Island. On his first day, he gave the new recruits a pep talk, telling them what he expected. After he was done, he turned around to find [...]

Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief John J Fanning II

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
October 13, 2009
Editor’s Note: Our Firefighter of the week was  Battalion Chief Haz-Mat Operations John J Fanning II.
We would like to know what you think. dan@goldcoastchronicle.com

Naming the Future for Him
A few months after the terrorist attack, Maureen Fanning realized that her 14-year-old son, Sean, was still staring out the window looking for [...]

Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief Division 3 Dennis L Devlin

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
October 8, 2009
Her Cheerleader
For 29 years, Dennis and Kathleen Devlin were man and wife, parents to four children. In a house on a small hill in upstate New York, they watched sunsets and laid plans to grow old together.
But Dennis Devlin, a battalion chief for the New York City Fire Department, is gone [...]

Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief Battalion 8 Thomas P DeAngelis

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Sept. 23, 2009
In the Thick of Things
Five years ago, when Thomas P. DeAngelis was promoted to battalion chief in the New York City Fire Department, his wife, Patty, told him: “You’ve been running into burning buildings for 22 years. But you’re a battalion chief now, so you won’t have to do that anymore.”
In [...]

Firefighter of the week – Battalion Chief Battalion 57 Denis A Cross

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Oct. 1, 2009
Running for a Memory
The race seemed more important than ever. For 18 years, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Dennis Cross competed in the Turkey Trot, a 5- kilometer race held in Flushing Meadows, Queens, where firefighters ran for charity. Now he would be absent.
His wife, JoAnn, used to operate a fitness [...]

Firefighter of the week – Dep. Chief SOC Raymond M. Downey

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Sept. 15, 2009

Firefighter to the Core
Raymond M. Downey was the battalion chief in charge of special operations in the New York City Fire Department.
Here’s his son, Chuck, a fire lieutenant: “Dad joined the Fire Department on April 7, 1962. Coming on in the 60’s, they went to a lot of fires. The war [...]

Firefighter of the week – Chaplain Mychal Judge, O.F.M.

Holy Name Province
September 8, 2009
Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, died Tuesday, September 11, 2001 in a hail of falling debris near the World Trade Center.  He became the first officially recorded fatality following the attack.  Father Mychal was 68.
Born in Brooklyn, NY on May 11, 1933, Robert [...]