It’s probably not the best metaphor if you’re retiring from the FDNY and have seen fire from every possible angle, but Capt. John Ceriello has been credited with revolutionizing safety within the department, so there probably won’t be a problem.
”It’s time to pass the torch,” said Ceriello, who’s hanging up his hose after 37 years on the job.
At 63, Ceriello, the captain of a Brooklyn rescue unit, said he’s still at the top of his game. His knees feel good, his hips feel fine, his lungs are healthy. For him, that means it’s time to go.
“I’m in exceptional shape right now,” said Ceriello, who is officially retiring Monday. “But I am not what I was five years ago. I’m not what I was 10 years ago. When you’re a captain of a rescue unit, there is no compromise. You have to go 110%.”
Ceriello has been going all-out since he joined the FDNY in 1988, but his love of firefighting has deeper roots.
He began his career in 1981 with the Roslyn Highlands Volunteer Company, where he followed in his father’s firefighting footsteps. When he got his letter confirming his FDNY appointment, it was his father who delivered the news.
”Congratulations,” his dad told him. “I wish it was me.”
Courtesy of John Ceriello
John Ceriello. (Courtesy of John Ceriello)
“You want to just serve your community,” Ceriello said of his time as a volunteer. “There’s a love of the town. And this is a simple and direct way to give back to the community. When you’re 18, 19 years old, it’s really fun. You don’t realize the danger there is at every corner.”
It didn’t take long for reality to settle in. Ceriello said that if he takes the 9/11 terrorist attack out of the equation, he has seen 48 line of duty deaths.
“It’s a very dangerous job,” Ceriello said.
That is where the retiring captain has had his greatest impact. His efforts to improve safety protocols through the department’s Wind Impacted Fires Project have probably saved more lives than he can count.
Nancy Siesel for New York Daily News
FDNY Firefighter John Ceriello is pictured in his Brooklyn home in 2008. (Nancy Siesel for New York Daily News)
The innovative project introduced stairwell pressurization, wind control devices and high-rise nozzles into the field. The new procedures have helped fight fires before they even start.
The lessons came in handy last year when firefighters battled drought conditions and a massive brush fire that destroyed about 4 acres of Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park.
Responding firefighters fought the blaze through the night, lugging hose lines from the nearby Harlem River.
Since the new innovations took hold, no firefighter has been killed in a wind-related fire since 2010, officials said.
Ceriello said he will stay active and involved through training and teaching, but he will leave the heat and smoke to the next generation.
“My wife is very relieved,” Ceriello said. “She’s always allowed me to do what I needed to do . Every day you leave the house is an unknown.”
