FDNY

On 9/11, I witnessed the Twin Towers come falling down right before my eyes. I later found out that one of my hockey buddies and my high school friend were both in the buildings when they came down. From that day, I decided I would dedicate myself to the FDNY. In 2005, I was accepted into the Fire Academy, and am now a 15 year veteran and well respected leader in his firehouse.

In 2014, I was selected to be a part of the FDNY Calendar of Heroes for the month of July of 2015. The FDNY Calendar helps raise money for the FDNY Foundation. The FDNY Foundation, established in 1981, is the official not-for-profit of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY). It’s mission is to promote fire and life safety education and help the FDNY better protect New York. The FDNY Foundation funds programs that advance the FDNY’s goals, which include maintaining operational excellence, reaching out to the community with an array of fire and life safety programs, and ensuring that our firefighters and EMS personnel have the best available training and equipment. 

To make a donation to the FDNY Foundation - Click Here.

The Tribute Crucible

In early 2017, I received a random call from Brandon Heaney, a firefighter in Utah who hosted an event each year honoring the 343 firemen that gave their lives on 9/11. He was looking for a NYC firefighter to join the group and said I would be the perfect fit with my background in fitness, since it was a strenuous event. Not sure what to think of it, I told him I would look into it and get back to him. I did my research and found that Brandon was an ex college football player who was drafted by the Falcons and played on the Giants practice squad. He currently worked for the Salt Lake City Fire Department and this was his second year hosting this event. After thinking about it, I decided to give it a shot and help his cause. I asked to bring bring my close friend, and partner in my gym, Gil Tal with me. It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

We arrived in Salt Lake City and a Fire Captain named Jeff picked us up, took us out to lunch then took us to his cabin in the mountains to get adjusted to the altitude. At first thought, it seemed as if this were the perfect set up for him to drug us, steal our vital organs and ditch us in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. But man, were we wrong. What an experience. Jeff was an amazing host. Cooked for us, had some beers, took us on and ATV tour of the mountains, then the next day, drove us to the starting point of the Crucible.

This is when we finally met Brandon. Another great dude. You can tell he put his heart and soul into the event. I will leave the entire story for a blog post one day, but here is a little on how it went over 35 long hours with not an ounce of sleep and constantly on the go to the next event. We started by hiking up a mountain, getting to the top then bushwacking down (cutting through all the brush and descending down the side of a mountain with no trails) all while carrying a precious heavy backpack with supplies and that bore the name of a fallen 9/112 firefighter. I had the honor of carrying Michael Cammarata’s name with me the entire time, a hockey friend who was with me in the gym only 2 days before that fateful day. Most of the bushwacking was almost straight down. By the time I got to the bottom, my feet were on fire. I definitely thought I lost some skin. After we got down, we did a quick course on medical emergencies then they staged a situation where we all had to think fast and act as a team to transport a victim to a helicopter for removal. And yes, there was a real helicopter. From there we did all types of events throughout the day then through the night then into the next morning. We were given assault rifles and cleared building with terrorists and hostages. We learned self defense from an MMA master that trained Green Beret’s. We hiked, carried logs, did yoga, had team competitions, went in freezing cold water at 2am in the mountains and couldn’t get out until we all recited the Gettysburg Address in unison (3 teams and each had a section), more hiking, more climbing, paddleboarding across a windy mountain lake, And best of all, sat around a bonfire, listened to sounds clips from 9/11 and told stories of that day.

This was an event like no other. An event that changed my outlook on life and on humanity. That there were still people in the world that were this amazing. To do what we did for 30+ hours and for Brandon Heaney, Jeff and the rest of the crew that organized this. This was something that I will never forget.

Watch the video clip below, and for more info one the Tribute Crucible, go to https://www.tributecrucible.org/