Nicholas Paul Chiofalo Jr.: A
Serious Firefighter Who Loved a Joke Too
Since 1979, when Nick Chiofalo started dating Jerry
Nardello's sister, the two men have been fast friends.
And after Chiofalo married Joan Nardello in 1981, they
never bothered saying "in-law" when they called each
other brother.
"I'd call on the phone and say, 'Hey, Joan, is Nick
there?'" said Nardello, 38. "She'd say, 'Oh, you don't
care about me, as long as Nick's there.' She got a real
kick out of that one."
Chiofalo, 39, a firefighter in Bedford-Stuyvesant and
a fire chief in Selden, responded with his Brooklyn unit,
Engine Co. 235, to the World Trade Center attack Sept.
11. He was last seen going into Tower Two to help
evacuate people. His engine company, except for the
driver, was lost.
Joan Chiofalo said her husband was her "best friend."
"I've known him since high school," she said. "We talked
all the time." Their son, Nicholas Chiofalo Jr., is
13.
Nardello remembers his brother-in-law as, above all,
someone who loved to work. In addition to his two
firefighter positions, he also worked at a fireworks
company as a pyrotechnics engineer.
The way Chiofalo got the job was typical of his
personality, Nardello said. After an explosion at the
fireworks company 16 years ago, in which several
employees were killed, Chiofalo wrote a letter of
condolence. Company officials met and hired him, Nardello
said.
"When you meet him, you take an instant liking to
him," Nardello said.
Chiofalo was also a joker, Nardello said, recalling an
incident in April when Nardello injured his hand on his
job as an elevator mechanic.
Chiofalo "comes in on Easter morning with a
screwdriver through his hand and a bandage with ketchup
on it and a cane," Nardello said. "That's what kind of
clown he is."
If there was one thing Chiofalo was serious about,
however, it was being a firefighter.
"If he was going to go, this is the way he wanted to
go," Nardello said. "He loved being a fireman. He loved
saving lives. And this is what he did."
Joan Chiofalo said she wasn't surprised her husband
rushed into the building to help. "When he called me that
morning and said he was going I knew he wasn't coming
back," she said. "When that building came crushing down,
so did the rest of my life."
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