Around the Emerald Green Salute to fallen firefighters

By Frank Cull

New York State Fire Administrator James Burns and Deputy State Fire Administrator Daniel Caffrey send word that the Empire State will honor its firefighter heroes, who have been killed in the line of duty, with the dedication of the official New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial on Monday, Oct. 5.

Gov. George E. Pataki will unveil the 10-foot-high sculpture created by Robert Eccleston of Schuyler Falls, N.Y. The dedication ceremonies will be held at the Empire State Plaza in Albany at 11 a.m. The stirring sculpture portrays emotion, energy and motion, as two firefighters struggle to rescue their injured comrade. The work of art will sit atop a Maltese Cross, 38 feet in diameter, within the park-like memorial site. A massive granite wall behind the sculpture will be engraved with the names of all the New York firefighters who have given their lives in the line of duty to save others. Their memory and their valor will be commemorated at the memorial during Fire Prevention Week each year.

Co-chairmen for the Fire Department version of Iwo Jima are Charles Morello and Gunnnar Neilson. Besides Burns (Westchester Firefighters Emerald Society) and Caffrey (FDNY Emerald), the committee also includes FDNY Emeralds Dick Abbott and Jim McGowan, NYC Fire Commissioner Thomas VonEssen, Dr. Gerald Lynch of John Jay College, Dominick Timpano (NYS Firefighters Association), the Dublin-born CEO of FireQuench, Desmond Burke, and Sandy Sansevero, former executive assistant to NYC Fire Commissioner John T. O’Hagan and vice president of the NYC Fire Museum.

Ed Emeralds’ party

Michael Burke of the NYC Board of Education Emerald Society has announced that its Welcome Back Party will be held on Monday, Oct. 5, at Rory Dolan’s Restaurant, 890 McLean Ave., Yonkers. For tickets ($40 per person), call (914) 747-1673.

Last week the Board of Ed Emeralds hosted a reception honoring U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley.

Fore entrance exam

Vice President Tom Dunn of the NYC Fire Department Emerald Society sends smoke signals about the upcoming FDNY entrance exam for firefighters. Filing for the exam ends Oct. 2, so act. The test is open to residents of New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Orange Counties. City residents who pass the exam will be given a five-point residency bonus.

Applications are available at public libraries in the five boroughs; at the Applications Section of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, 18 Washington St. in Manhattan or Fire Department headquarters at Nine Metro Tech. in Brooklyn.

"It’s an ideal situation for college kids," said FDNY Emerald President Bill Whelan. "They should take the exam, because it would be a while before they are called. This is the first firefighter exam offered in six years. The list from this exam won’t be created until 2001."

For more information, call (718) 999-FDNY.

Emerald sparklers

Brian Sullivan, son of Terry Sullivan of the Orangetown, N.Y., Police Department, won the 1998 Rockland County Police Emerald Society scholarship.

Robert E. Walsh of the Police Emerald Society of Westchester was promoted to chief of police for the Delhi, N.Y., Police Department

NYC Police Emerald James McCabe took the hand of Ritamary Madigan in the holy sacrament of matrimony. The bride’s father, Jack Madigan, is also a NYC Police Emerald, while her grandfather, State police legend Eddie Lent, is a member of the Police Emerald Society of Westchester. The groom’s father, John McCabe, was grand marshal of the 1998 Newark St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

NYC Department of Sanitation Emerald Society was saddened by the passing of past president Joseph M. Brown. Brown has served the department as deputy assistant chief of staff.

NYC Police Emerald Det. Steven McDonald, who was paralyzed in a 1986 shooting but later forgave his teenaged attacker, traveled to Northern Ireland to spread his message of reconciliation. The founder of a group devoted to sharing stories of forgiveness and the holder of joint U.S.-Irish citizenship, McDonald said he visited neighborhoods in Belfast and Dublin to speak to extremists and their victims "as an instrument of peace, to show you can forgive."