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....May 17, 5:45 PM |
| Facing Last Call: Fire That Drives Chief Still Burns, But 36-Year Veteran Steps Down
By MICHAEL CUSENZA Danny Conlisk had seen it before, but the lump in his throat told him it could be the last thing his eyes ever saw.
The FDNY lieutenant watched closely as the warehouse door turned an ominous shade of cherry – a sure sign the insatiable fire on the other side hungered for more. “If it gets past the door, we’re going to die,” he thought to himself. Conlisk and his men backed up and braced themselves, all the while manning a charged hose, pelting the unpredictable beast. He had strict instructions. Hold that wall. And so they did, saving the building and cheating death in the process. Just another day at the office. Those days are over for the 59-year-old Conlisk, now retired chief of Battalion 54 stationed at Engine 317/Ladder 165 in St. Albans. The 36-year veteran of the FDNY officially hung up his helmet earlier this month, ending an illustrious career filled with heart-pumping excitement and gut-wrenching loss. “It’s the best thing I ever did,” Conlisk related. A Reluctant Beginning The lifelong Ridgewood resident’s firefighting career almost didn’t happen. Prior to shipping out with the army to Vietnam in February 1969, Conlisk reluctantly took the FDNY written exam. He had already earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from St. John’s University. “While I was in Vietnam, my father wrote me a letter saying [the FDNY] called me for the physical,” Conlisk remembered. “I was all set to tell him I didn’t want to be a fireman.” Instead, Conlisk agreed to take the physical when he returned home from his 15-1/2-month tour of duty. He passed the grueling exam and was later sworn-in to the fire department on March 6, 1971. His first assignment was Engine 40 on Amsterdam Avenue and 66th Street near Lincoln Center. Conlisk recalled his first fire with a rookie’s grin. “An alarm came in, we all got our stuff on and jumped on the rig,” he said. “We’re coming down the block and they had given me the nozzle. I had only been on the job a week. There was a big guy next to me, and as soon as we got there he sees the flames blowing out the windows and he says to me, ‘Kid, you don’t got the nozzle today.’” After 12 years on the job, Conlisk passed the lieutenant’s exam and was relocated from Engine 261/Ladder 116 in Long Island City to Engine 229/Ladder 146 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In October 1987 he reached the rank of captain and led Engine 257/Ladder 170 in Canarsie for nine years. He became a battalion chief on June 8, 1996. “Leading the guys is the greatest thing,” Conlisk said. “You’re putting them in situations where they can die a lot of times, but they go right ahead and do it. They make me look good.” The Darkest Days A veritable walking encyclopedia of fire knowledge and incredible stories of heroism, Conlisk recounts bringing back to life a man passed out on the floor of a candy store on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood as one of his fondest memories. The darkest moments came on Sept. 11, 2001 and the days that followed. It was one of the five or six incidents in his career where he thought he might not make it out alive. |
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