RONALD BUCCA: Rescuer and
Counselor
Ronald
Bucca was nicknamed "the Flying Fireman" in 1986 after he
fell spectacularly from a tenement fire escape, spun
around a cable strung through the backyard and lived to
tell the tale. And that was just one of his moments.
His specialty was rescuing mankind from smoke and
flames, but he did not mind scorching certain people with
his wit.
His colleagues collected "Ron-isms." An example: "This
one is as sharp as a basketball."
He designed hats for other firemen with details that
they found hilarious (but unfortunately, that were not
printable).
A firefighter for 23 years, the last nine as a fire
marshal, he was also a nurse and a reservist in the
United States Army's Special Forces.
Mr. Bucca trained as an antiterrorist intelligence
expert, and when the planes hit the towers on Sept. 11,
he called his wife, Eve, and said he was heading to the
scene.
"He knew it was a terrorist attack," Mrs. Bucca said.
"He had been expecting something like that for a very
long time."
Before that day, his final investigation had involved
a young woman who set her former boyfriend's letters on
fire and left them to burn in a toilet. He counseled her
as a father might.
"No guy is worth getting this upset over; don't be too
concerned about this guy," he told her, said Keith
O'Mara, his partner. "There are a lot of fish in the sea.
And if this should ever happen again, think about buying
yourself a paper shredder."
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