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Posted on 09/27/2001 7:36:34 AM PDT by Silly

Some firefighters in Manhattan would like to thank an Ohio man who helped them with rescue efforts at Ground Zero. The trouble is, they don't know who he is.

This week I visited Engine 8, Ladder 2, the fire station at E. 51st Street in midtown Manhattan, between Lexington Avenue and 3rd Avenue. When I mentioned that my Ohio brother was in town volunteering, a firefighter named Steve Riccio lit up.

"Where in Ohio is he from?'' he said. "We met a great guy from Ohio, who showed up to work with us on the second day of the disaster, but he disappeared before we could thank him. He didn't have a place to stay overnight, and by the time we had found him one, he was gone.''

His crew was so impressed with this Ohio man, they asked me to track him down. This is all they know:

He's a firefighter captain from Ohio who showed up to help the second day, Sept. 12. He was about 45 years old, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with jet-black hair and a drooping mustache. The man worked all day but had no place to stay that night. When the New York City firefighters learned that local hotels had offered to lodge volunteers, they looked for this man, but he was gone.

These guys were very disappointed they couldn't do more for an anonymous Ohioan who had sacrificed his time, his effort and his safety to lessen the burden of their rescue operation. They were impressed with him and grateful for his help.

Yes, there are probably thousands of such stories, men and women who crossed paths, bonding forever in the solemn duties of the World Trade Center rescue and recovery, who vanished like angels. But that doesn't make this volunteer less important.

If you know this fire captain, some people here in the Big Apple would like to thank him properly. Riccio's fire station lost 10 men in the towers' collapse Sept. 11. Firefighters have been searching all week for survivors and haven't found one. Perhaps finding that Ohio man might mean something to the men of Engine 8, Ladder 2.

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