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Bernard Kerik, former NYPD Commissioner, said it best when he told the 9/11 Commission that “no perfect radio exists” and “God help New York” if it should get attacked a third time. Most importantly, he cautioned that we must “remain preemptive,” because if we think we are safe from terrorism, and that our war is almost over, then we are sadly mistaken.

Firefighters for Bush On March 4, 2004, President Bush released the first television campaign ad of the season. It was a powerful, upbeat, forward-looking message of hope, containing images from his presidency and a vision of a better future. It was also attacked immediately in the press as "exploitative" because the President had included some brief images from 9/11 which featured the crumbled towers and weary firefighters. IAFF president Howard Schaitberger joined the attack, claiming that the President was trying to "capitalize on the image of great heroics and a great tragedy." But other firefighters, incensed at the IAFF's statements,...

First came the teasing: one man made a crack about another's sexual orientation. Others may have laughed. The target of the teasing responded with a taunt, a firefighter familiar with the case said, and then, in a flash, a metal chair sailed through the air, shattering bones in the teased man's face and partly severing his nose. In that horrifying instant last Wednesday, a verbal fight swiftly escalated into violence in a Staten Island firehouse, officials say, leaving one firefighter on a respirator in a hospital and another under arrest, his career in peril. While the details are still under...

<p>At least a dozen of New York's Bravest - some of them assigned to look after Sept. 11 widows - have left their wives for the spouses of their comrades killed in the terror attacks, sources told The Post.</p> <p>"It's disgusting, heartbreaking what they've done," said Mary Koenig, whose husband, Gerry Koenig of Staten Island's Rescue 5 squad, ditched her and their two kids for Madeline Bergin, the widow of his friend and firehouse mate, John Bergin, after the World Trade Center attacks.</p>

...and there has not been a busier day at Channel Five of the Gates, not ever. And it was different to almost all the busy days at any of the other Channels over the last sixty or seventy years. Usually the busy days are the days when armies of great powers are in action Down Below and then all that arrive in the Channels are alike in that they are young men in their prime, all aged between sixteen or seventeen and the late thirties, all in uniform. ...but this was different. There were babies, babies of every colour of...

Fire rigs at retiree's party draw complaintsTuesday, July 1, 2003MIKE THOMPSONTHE SAGINAW NEWS Saginaw on-duty firefighters took turns Friday driving and riding their rigs from the city's four stations to a co-worker's retirement party. They also sounded their sirens as they approached the home of Leonard K. Jurek on Ardmore near Congress, in what Jurek and other firefighters described as a "tradition" on a retiree's last day. Their actions drew criticism from City Councilman Dennis D. Browning, a retired police officer who lives six blocks from Jurek, during and after Monday's meeting. He said firefighters risked a slower response if...

Firefighters set drug house on fire 06/11/2003 By MARK BOONE / 6NEWS A known drug house in north Charlotte goes up in flames and it's no accident. Firefighters set the fire at a house near Statesville Avenue and I-85 Wednesday morning. Police say the house has been a haven for drug dealers and prostitutes. The problem is so bad, the owner of the rental house agreed to let the city burn the building down. Neighbors say the house has been a nuisance for several years, attracting all kinds of criminal activity. The demolition is also a training exercise for Charlotte's...

Portland Fire Bureau officials Monday ordered U.S. flags removed from downtown fire engines, concerned that their presence might provoke dangerous confrontations with antiwar demonstrators. "This policy will continue until we no longer have sustained close contact interaction with protesters and demonstrators," Deputy Chief Gary Warrington wrote in a memo to the city's three downtown companies. "Protesters have threatened our personnel and are burning flags in the street," the memo said. "We do not want extremists attacking our apparatus or our personnel." The order immediately proved incendiary with firefighters, who angrily complained. "Taking the flag down hits a lot of nerves...

After voting in favor of the war with Iraq right before the November elections, Sen. Hillary Clinton never had another kind word to say for the war. Just a few weeks ago, Sen. Clinton gave an interview on Irish TV in which she said she opposed precipitous action against Iraq. She said Bush should give the U.N. weapons inspectors more time. Hillary did not object to precipitous action against Iraq when her husband bombed it on the day of his scheduled impeachment. President Clinton attacked Saddam Hussein without first asking approval from the United Nations, the U.S. Congress or...

Blaze, smoke engulf victims within seconds 02/22/2003 BY JENNIFER LEVITZ and ZACHARY R. MIDER Journal Staff Writers WEST WARWICK -- A fireworks display exploded into flames at a small-town nightclub, killing at least 96 people, injuring another 180, and turning a carefree night of rock 'n' roll into the worst disaster in Rhode Island since the Hurricane of 1938. There were up to 360 people in The Station in West Warwick around 11 p.m. Thursday as the band, Great White, launched into its first song, "Desert Moon." Pyrotechnics ignited on the back of the stage. Within 20 seconds, the club...

Updated: 12-03-2002 04:24:54 PM Anguish, Tributes Expressed At Oregon Memorial Service LARRY BACON Courtesy The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon The close-knit community of firefighters joined hundreds of mournful townspeople Sunday in an emotional salute and farewell to the three Coos Bay firemen who lost their lives in a burning building last Monday. The ceremony followed a procession through the twin communities of Coos Bay and North Bend that included more than 275 fire vehicles from about 100 fire departments across the Northwest. To the strains of a bagpipe band made up of police and fire officials from the Portland area, nearly...

New York firemen demonstrated yesterday over a book accusing officers of looting at the World Trade Centre before the twin towers collapsed on September 11. They picketed a bookshop signing session, chanting "liar, liar" and calling William Langewiesche's American Ground "disgusting" and "a travesty". The journalist claimed that a fire engine was recovered from the debris, its cab full of jeans from a branch of Gap clothing. He writes: "It was hard to avoid the conclusion that the looting had begun even before the first tower fell and that while hundreds of doomed firemen had climbed through the wounded buildings,...

TWO union chiefs who led firefighters out on strike went to Iraq and returned spouting Saddam Hussein’s propaganda, The Sun can reveal. Bob Pounder and Howard Western BLASTED Britain and our allies over sanctions against Iraq after their Baghdad jolly. The hard-Left stooges were unmasked as Britain’s 50,000 firefighters walked out at 6pm last night despite fears of terror attacks. With the strike only an hour old a woman died in a house fire as RAF firefighters raced to the scene. But two striking fire crews broke their stoppage to dash to their aid. Pounder, fire union boss in Manchester,...

September 11, 2002 8:00 a.m. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. — Shakespeare's King Henry V, addressing his men before the battle of AgincourtThis is the time to remember, to recall where we were and what we were doing when we first heard...

GLOUCESTER CITY - Three-year-old twins, their five-year-old brother and three firefighters tried to rescue them died early today when a multi-story home caught fire and collapsed. One of the victims, a 39-year-old firefighter, proposed to his girlfriend at a Fourth of July fireworks display hours before the fire started, sad Gov. McGreevey, who visited the scene at midday. City firefighters passed directly in front of the duplex last night during a holiday parade. The roof of the home collapsed trapping eight firefighters inside, but five were dug out by their comrades, Acting Camden County Prosecutor James P. Lynch said. The...

NEW YORK, Mar 12, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The bodies of five firefighters were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center on Tuesday as workers continued to discover pockets of human remains even in the last stage of the recovery effort. The bodies, draped in American flags, were pulled from an area where the south tower once stood, said Pat Cleary, a fire department spokesman. About 100 firefighters lined up to salute as the bodies were carried to an ambulance. Three of the bodies were pulled from the wreckage this morning, followed by the discoveries...