JOHN COLLINS: Future Fireman at Age
4
When
John Collins was 4 years old, his father took him to a
Bronx firehouse. That is when he decided what he wanted
to do. It took a while, with entrance exams delayed
because of a legal dispute, so he joined the Police
Department first before becoming a fireman in 1990.
The oldest of five children, Mr. Collins, 42,
organized family events, like two weeks each year on Long
Beach Island in New Jersey, or a benefit concert on the
aircraft carrier Intrepid in Manhattan, followed by a
night on the town with his sisters and their husbands. He
lived in the Bronx, lifted weights and bought groceries
for neighbors who were down on their luck.
He never talked much about his work, his sister Eileen
Byrne recalled, because he did not want to worry his
parents. "We teased him, said he was the only fireman who
never went to a fire," she said.
That is not how they remember him at Ladder Company 25
on 77th Street. On Sept. 11, he was supposed to go to
another firehouse to fill in. It was called out before he
could get there. When Ladder 25 was called, he jumped on
the engine. "We had seven firemen on the rig instead of
six," said another fireman, Matt O'Hanlon.
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