JAMES AMATO: 'A Fireman's
Fireman'
Capt.
James Amato, a member of Squad 1 in Brooklyn, loved
putting out fires. No sitting around the firehouse for
him; he wanted to be in the middle of the action,
wherever it was. After years as a firefighter in one of
the busier ladder companies, he applied for the elite
rescue division, so he would always be one of the first
people responding to a crisis.
"He liked to be one of the guys who made a
difference," said his brother, Lee Amato, a firefighter
from Cooper City, Fla. "He liked to get off the piece and
run in with the men. He was a fireman's fireman."
The brothers spent vacations together, sometimes in
Florida and sometimes on the ski slopes. Lee Amato, the
elder of the two, called his brother "my dearest
friend."
Captain Amato, a father of four who lived in
Ronkonkoma, N.Y., and was a college wrestler, had close
calls throughout his life. As a toddler, he barely
survived a bout of spinal meningitis. And earlier this
year, he told his men to file out of a burning building
while they waited for a hose line to be set up. A few
seconds after they got out, there was an explosion. "He
was laughing about it," said his brother. "He said,
`Timing is everything.' "
.