Chief Leader - June 05, 2012
by SARAH DORSEYWhen 60 firefighters were promoted May 31 at Randalls Island, two important figures were missing. The first was Lieut. Aldo Adissi of Squad 61 in the Bronx, who was awarded the rank of Captain by Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano. His wife and 9-year-old daughter accepted for him, because he was serving a six-month tour in Afghanistan with the Air National Guard.
The second missing firefighter was former Chief of Department Peter Ganci, whose son, Christopher, was promoted to Lieutenant. Christopher left a corporate job to join the FDNY shortly after his father was killed at the World Trade Center on September 11. He currently serves with Ladder 157 in Brooklyn.
'All Over Lives Touched'
"This is an accomplishment, but it's bittersweet because my dad's not here," he said, adding, "I just want to be a good firefighter, a good officer and a good representative of the FDNY."
"Whether you knew him or not, all our lives were personally touched by Chief Ganci," Mr. Cassano added. "Chris, you would make your father incredibly proud."
Captain Christopher Ritchie of Engine 21 was also promoted May 31, and will join his father, Battalion Chief Frank Ritchie, at Battalion 13 in Manhattan. The two will become the first simultaneously-serving father-son Battalion Chiefs in FDNY history.
"I look to my father a lot," the younger Ritchie said. "If I'm half the firefighter--and Battalion Chief--he is, then that would be great."
His father, currently the most-senior firefighter in the department, will retire in September when he turns 65. He said he heard the news his son was born in 1968, on his first day of probationary firefighter school.
"They called me to the front of the class and said, 'You're now the proud father of a future firefighter.' Little did they know," he recalled.
