Two years ago, I interviewed the guys at Engine 9 Battalion C for a special post dedicated to 9/11. This interview solidified my love for this gig and was definitely one of my favorite experiences as a Jersey City blogger. The stories of these firefighters inspired me so much and touched my heart, and since then I’ve become slightly obsessed with the JCFD. Every time I see them around town, I always show them love. This year, I wanted to visit a new firehouse and experience it all over again… selfishly.

Rescue 1 Squad 4 is the busiest Firehouse in Jersey City, located on Communipaw Ave. They are on the scene at each and every fire that happens in the city. This crew is the cream of the crop and referred to as the elite unit in JC.  Some of them have even been firefighters for over two decades! They risk their lives daily to help complete strangers. They are my heroes.

Photographer Greg Pallante, who shot Engine 9’s interview, joined me again this year and we ended up staying for dinner that the guys made for us. I had such a great time getting to know the crew. These interviews make me fall in love with my job over and over again.

Meet Rescue 1 Squad 4.

• Bobby Nunez
• William Clarritt
• Raul Vega
• Nelson Martinez
• Guido Salandra
• Bryan Herman
• Matthew Kelleher
• Michael Davis
• Brian Jankowski

What is your name?

Guido Salandra

What do you do?

Salandra: I’m the captain of the Jersey City Fire Department.

How long have you been the captain?

Salandra: It’s been eight years.

How did you become the captain? How did you decide to be a firefighter?

Salandra: I came on later, at 33 years old. The job of a firefighter intrigued me. I applied for the test and it worked out.

Describe a typical shift.

Salandra: We come in at 8 AM and we relieve the off-going group. After that, we have our coffee and stuff, and then the guys get dressed and ready for work. We do an inventory of all our apparatus, and then it’s a normal routine day depending on the calls we get. In this particular house, we have a lot of talented people. Rescue 1 Squad 4 are heavily trained in a lot of different areas. The house is pretty busy, but it keeps us going.

Do you have a story that’s the most poignant of your eight years being a firefighter?

Salandra: There are some tragic stories, some good stories… When I first came on as a firefighter, we had an incident on a Bridge. A car accident, which was pretty devastating and brought the whole job to reality for me. They lost four kids on the bridge and stuff like that stays with you. There’s also good stories, a lot of kidding around, a lot of camaraderie.

Are you all only firefighters, or do you have side hustles?

Salandra: We are firefighters first, and that’s why they’re going to state that they’re firefighters. Anything secondary, what we do on the side, is different for everyone.

What’s your name?

Brian Jankowski

What about you, what do you do on the side?

Jankowski: I work for a painting and concrete company, and I do road construction.

How long have you been a firefighter?

Jankowski: Four years.

Why did you decide to be a firefighter?

Jankowski: I decided to do it because my dad did it, and I just got interested from there.

What’s your name?

Michael Davis

How long have you been a firefighter?

Davis: I’m ending my 23rd year and starting my 24th year.

24 years! Wow. Why did you decide to become a firefighter?

Davis: I ran into a couple of people who were on the job back in 1991, and I decided to take the test.

Do you have a side hustle?

Davis: Not anymore. I have my wife who’s a schoolteacher at PS 22.

Are you from Jersey City?

Davis: Yes, born and raised.

Do you have a favorite Jersey City hang out spot?

Davis: I don’t get to hang out much, but if my wife and I go anywhere, it’s the Waterfront or mother’s house on Union St.

What’s your name?

William Clarritt

How long have you been a firefighter?

Clarritt: 10 years.

Why did you decide to be a firefighter?

Clarritt: I had a friend who was a firemen and I was working Corrections prior to this. I was working a lot of mandatory overtime and he had a much better schedule, so when the test came out, I took the test.

Do you guys all get along?

Clarritt:  No, it’s tough love in here.

Who fights the most?

Clarritt:  Matt and everybody. His nickname is Mr. Happy because he’s never happy!

What’s your side hustle?

Clarritt:  I’m a realtor.

 

Are you from Jersey City?

Clarritt: Yes, I am! Born and raised.

How do you feel Jersey City has changed?

Clarritt: It’s a lot of growth and a lot of different backgrounds coming in.

Every time I ask a firefighter, “Where do you hang out?” they say, “The fire house.”

Salandra: It’s like with a side hustle, we’re very busy people, too.

The “second job,” let’s call it, is also what makes us good firemen. Everybody has a different background. We have a guy who fixes airplanes, another who fixes elevators, realtors, construction workers, electricians. That all comes into play when we’re on a mission. You can get a lot of information.

How do you manage everybody with all the different personalities?

Salandra: You’ve just got to flow with it, I guess. Everybody’s different and you deal with them on an individual basis, but for the most part, it’s not that hard. Your job basically runs itself. Everybody know what they’re doing, we train a lot here, and when an incident happens we’ll most likely be ready for it.

What’s your name?

Raul Vega

We’ve met before, at O’leary’s! How long have you been a firefighter?

Vega: 23 years, going on 24.

Why did you decide you want to be a firefighter?

Vega: I needed a pension, I needed a job that pays the bills. I’m also born and raised in New York. I lived in Jersey City in ’89, moved and got married in 2001.

Do you have a side hustle?

Raul: I’m a soccer dad!

Oh, I like that! 

What about you, chef?

My name is Bobby Nuñez. I’ve been on the job for 23 years, 24 years in November. My side hustle is I’m a painter. I’m born and raised in Jersey City, went to PS 16 in Downtown Jersey City. I was raised Downtown. I went to Ferris High School, graduated there, and never left the city. My kids are born and raised here, as well.

How do you feel Jersey City has changed?

Nuñez: I’ve seen a drastic change, so I love it. My favorite hangout spot is Sky Tobacco.

I love that place! Do you go to the parties there?

Nuñez: Absolutely, always. Don’t miss one, unless I’m working of course.

So what are you cooking tonight?

Nuñez: Tonight, the real cooks were tired. The captain could throw anything together and make it taste good. I’m making gavadeel with broccoli, you guys are welcome to stay!

How do you guys determine who’s going to cook? Do you plan meals?

Nuñez: We have pasta every Sunday, so I make meatballs and sausage, ribs, stuff like that. But we just come in and play it by ear. We have Spanish guys and Italian guys, so some nights we’ll have rice and beans with pork shoulder, another day we’ll come in and have chicken francese.

Who does the groceries?

Nuñez: We all do. We go together.

What about you?

My name is Nelson Martinez. I’ve been on the job for 13 years now.

Why did you decide to be a firefighter?

Martinez: My father was a fireman for 28 years. He retired about 6 years ago. Born and raised in Jersey City and still lives in Jersey City.

How do you feel about the changes?

Martinez: I feel good about them. They’re going in the right direction. Change is always good.

Do you have a favorite hangout spot?

Martinez: Latin Lounge, when it was open! I used to go there a lot. It was one of those places like Cheers.

What’s your favorite part of being a firefighter? 

Martinez: The jokes on people!

What’s your name?

Matthew Callahan.

How long have you been a firefighter?

Callahan: 23 years. Most of us here came on together.

Why did you decide to become a firefighter?

Callahan: I actually don’t think I knew what I was getting myself into. It was something I thought I wanted to do and I just fell in love with it.

Do you have a side hustle?

Callahan: Yeah, I paint houses, but it’s beautiful when it’s done.

Are you from Jersey City?

Callahan: Yes, born and raised. Still live here.

What’s your favorite hang out spot?

Callahan: I go to Downtown a lot. I go to Healy’s, I used to hang out at the Lamp Post but that’s gone. I’ve tried some of the new places Downtown, like South House.

Are you happy with the changes?

Callahan: For the most part. You have out-of-towners who think they own the place, but we have to welcome everybody in.

Who was here during 9/11? 

At that time, we all got off that morning and we all took off to our second jobs. I was working at DHL and was doing deliveries in Alpine, NJ closer to the state of New York. By the time we drove down, it was just impossible to get in there.

Vega: I was working, and I saw it on TV. I was bringing packages to Weehawken and they shut down the buildings. Dispatch said, “Come on in, we need you. We need guys.” So I reported down here, waited here for hours to get a rig to go down to 9/11. That day, it was chaos so we didn’t go that day. We went days after.

Even though you weren’t there, you guys are firefighters. You saw your friends and people around you… How was that experience?

It was like any other day. I did work, I did a mutual, and I was a firefighter back then. I worked up at Summit Ave. It was interesting because we were pulling out unrelated to that call, and as the garage door opened, our view was the Twin Towers. I remember firefighter Bobby McArthur was sitting in the captain’s seat as we were getting ready to pull out. As the door opened, I could see the North tower with smoke coming up, going straight up a plume of smoke on the one side. Then I saw it on the other side. I must’ve just missed the plane coming in. I turned to Bobby, I said, “The Twin Towers are on fire, but that can’t be possible. It’s burning on both sides.” That was the whole start of that. We wound up Downtown trying to help people. Not a lot of people came over to Exchange Place on the ferries, but a lot of supplies went. It was interesting.

I was sitting at the Medical Center Luncheonette right on Montgomery St. You hear commotion, you see necks out the window, like “What are they looking at here?” Then it popped up on the television, and we walked out and there’s a clear view of the towers. The thing that sticks out to me was the plume was straight and then it was suddenly going south, like a right angle. It just stuck in our mind. Another firefighter and I went back to the firehouse, got our gear, and they designed tasks for us that day.

Everybody was going in groups 3 or 4 everywhere we went. They had us staged down Liberty State Park, Summit, and Exchange Place. Most of the people that came were Exchange Place. It was a very clear day, Tuesday. I’ll never forget that. One thing just thinking about the whole situation that I could try to describe in one word, the whole incident – the word “inhuman” came to mind. Whoever did this, this is not what human beings do to other human beings. It was a long day. We were on a 24-hour shift. We came in at 8:40 AM. Unrelated to that, we had a fire on Montrose and lost two people there. It was a real busy day and a lot to absorb.

Anybody else have anything to add?

We went the next day. We caught the ferry, we had a task force. When we were digging in the piles and the voids, there was nothing. No desks, no computers, nothing. It’s baffling. I’ve never been in a war zone, I didn’t serve in the military, but I’d describe that as a war-torn area.

That was interesting. When you think of the Twin Towers. both buildings have offices with desk phones and all that. There was really nothing to be had. It was just dust. It was crazy. Some of the other buildings were toppled over, glass was still falling.

New York City has a large fire department to begin with, and they had massive help from all over the country. It was amazing to see bucket brigades lined up with different piles, it was humongous. I’ve never seen a pile that huge in my life, and I never want to see it again.

Then when they found somebod, it was a somber moment. Especially with the pieces she found.

Just standing there, we were thinking, “What was this guy thinking? What was happening? What was he doing?” To me, he had run in without any hesitation, not thinking a building like this was every going to come down. These guys went in there without a second thought.

How was it, coming back to work after that?

Surreal. Anything could happen. It opens your eyes up.

Even anger at some point. Not only to firefighters, but to the country. There was a lot of emotions, especially if you had young kids. You think of the future, you think like everybody else, “What the hell is going on?”

Do you guys ever think that as firefighters? When you go into a burning building, what are the thoughts that go into your head?

You try to put your training to use and all your awareness into your surroundings. There’s a lot more to think about than what happens to you and all of that. That’s not at a time of a fire that you want to be thinking of, it takes away from what you should be doing.

You can’t have a cluttered mind.

I think what’s important is that that after this, a lot of people started really appreciating firefighters more than ever before. They see things differently now. We have this thing where they see us sometimes sitting out front, maybe just chitchatting with the guys or whatever, but after this happened we saw a different attitude. When we go to ShopRite, people are like, “God bless you,” and they’re thanking you. I think people got a different perspective of the job now.

It’s a brotherhood.

Right, they didn’t see that until they saw this. I think a lot of people were taken aback from the way all the guys reacted. Most guys that committed themselves to the buildings always knew there was a possibility they were going to die but they still went in there.

We’re here 24 hours. You do get closer to people, we do go to picnics and each other’s houses.

 

What’s your name?

Bryan Herman

How long have you been a firefighter? 

15 years.

Why did you decide to be a firefighter?

I like helping people.

Was there something that sparked the idea?

Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a fireman. I was 4 years old. Who doesn’t want to be a fireman.

Do you have a side hustle?

I do! I have a trucking company. That’s where we’re coming into play with this whole hurricane.

Tell me a little bit about that.

It’s family-owned, my great-grandfather started it. My brother and I, we have a terminal in Houston, have about 65 employees out there. Most of them were affected, some lost their homes, so my brother and I wanted to give back. Civilians want to donate water but can’t get into Houston, the DPW site here is filled. We’re going to ship it.

That’s awesome. We talked a little bit about 9/11 earlier. Where were you when it happened?

I was an EMT with the medical center. I was there for three days on the Jersey City side. I was walking into NJCU and I got the phone call. They were recalling all of the EMTs. They didn’t know exactly how many patients were going to come over, so I walked out of class and into the Medical Center on Baldwin Ave at the time, got in uniform, and we went Downtown for two days straight.

How was that whole experience?

That’s where all this came into play with Harvey. All the donations from Jersey City, from the state, from the federal were just lined up with food, water, and all that stuff. For the first 12-14 hours, it was surreal because everyone as coming over on the boats and stuff like that. After that, it really died down because once the buildings came down, there were no more survivors. Everyone had perished, but we didn’t know it at the time.

Was it hard to get back to work after that?

No. It’s work.

Are you from Jersey City?

I’m not, I moved up here in 1999 and went to NJCU.

How do you feel about the changes in the last couple of years?

I love it. This is the greatest city in the world. It’s diverse, and there’s all walks of life in this city. It really does. When you look at that trailer on Linden Ave, it’s outpouring support from a local city and that trailer right now is phenomenal.

Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot?

O’Leary’s!

Davis, can you give me a tour?

Tell me a little bit about this.

Davis: This is a rescue rig. We have no hoses or ladders. We do have two ladders, one 24-ft ladder. We carry specialty tools, extrication tools, high angle equipment, confined space, an inflatable boat.

So you guys don’t put out fires?

We do put out fires, we’re on every fire. We do search and rescue. If there’s a fire reported, we have a roof team that goes right to the roof, they split up, three guys go inside, we do search and rescue. We may go above the fire where people most likely are, and we just do our search and rescue. That’s our primary goal.

You don’t actually grab the hose.

We go right behind them. They’ll go in, we’ll go upstairs because people are upstairs in bedrooms, especially at night. Smoke kills within 4 or 5 minutes some oxygen to the brain, so we try to get there and get them out as quick as possible. That’s our role. We ventilate as we go, the roof team opens the roof, and we do split up.

Now that the guys aren’t around,  can you tell me a story that’s in your memory that you’d like to share?

Davis: We had a fire over here on Garfield. I was on the line, pushing in, and they sounded the evacuation alert. For some reason, our crew didn’t hear it and we were still inside. Everybody had evacuated and from the front door, the fire had wrapped around us, it was a circle building, and came back around behind us. Everything was on fire, we couldn’t get out. We got to a window, there were bars and they had to cut the bars off and they got me out, but that’s what happened.

It was scary.

Pretty much. It opened my eyes. I didn’t panic or distress, I just looked for a way out.

Did you ever think, “Oh, I don’t want to do this.”

Never. Never a second though. I love this. You get a sense of pride and joy when you do something good for the community. I lived in the city, I went 14 school, I went to Lincoln High School. I know a lot of people in Ward F.

Mr. Happy got the bars off the window.

So you guys have a special bond? 

We came on together, went to training school together, and we’ve been together for years now.

Is he your best friend?

Yeah, he’s one of my best friends. Absolutely. From back in training school, we’ve been inseparable. They call us Frick & Frack.

Does everyone know each other in the fire department?

Right now, I don’t know half of the new guys. We had such a change over the last seven years. We’ve lost half of the department.

How many more years are you going to do this?

I’m doing four more years, then I’ll get out. But I love it.

Dinner is ready, lets go back inside.

Some of you guys have been working together for over 20 years. That’s amazing! You guys see each other every week. 

Pretty much! Especially now, with the mass texting.

Do you guys prank each other?

Not this group!

I like when you ask that question and the guy who does the pranking tries to blame everyone else. We went out one time, it was about three in the morning, and I’m a little tired. Just came from a run. I go up the stairs and I have this habit where I get to my bunk and I just pull myself up. I went up there the other night and did the ol’ jump. The problem is, there was no mattress there. So I landed on a box spring and all I heard was giggling like little girls.

That’s good, I like that!

Now when I go up there, I make sure there’s a cushion.

The thing with that is, there’s always a come back. There’s always payback. It’s always coming.

Do you guys actually sleep when you’re here?

The truth is, nobody really sleeps because if a box comes in, you’re going to get up. Even though you know it’s the other rink, you’re still going to get up because you want to listen and see what’s going on.

You hear a fire reported, a smoke reported, and now guys are getting up and they get themselves ready because once the buzzer rings, you have to go. Even when you know someone else is going out, you want to hear what’s going on. You’re always listening to the radio constantly just to make sure everything is okay.

Are you guys really busy?

Yeah, this is the busiest house.

Do you guys like being busy?

You’re not here if you don’t like being busy.

Is there anything else you guys want to talk about or mention? Any last words, Captain?

Salandra: Thanks for coming over! It’s good to talk about it once in a while, it brings back a lot of memories. Good and bad.