Firefighter caught in Sept. 11 tragedy to speak at regional banquet

by The City Wire staff ([email protected]) 63 views 

Richard “Pitch” Picciotto, a former New York Fire Department battalion commander who was buried in the collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center, is the featured at the 2009 Emergency Services Banquet.

The banquet, to be held 6 p.m., March 14 at the Greenwood High School Student Union Building, serves as a recognition dinner for all emergency services personnel in the region, including fire, EMS, police, & Sheriff’s departments, according to Dale Seiter, a volunteer firefighter with the White Bluff-Rye Hill volunteer fire department and member of the banquet planning group.

Picciotto was the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the World Trade Center collapse, and the last fireman to escape the devastation, according to a press release. Picciotto, other firefighters and several civilians were trapped in a stairwell between the sixth and seventh floors when the tower collapsed. They were buried more than four hours in the rubble before being pulled from the debris. Picciotto wrote a book about the experience, “Last Man Down,” that was released May 2002.

Picciotto also is a former New York City police officer, and served as a fire marshal, an arson investigator, a lieutenant, and a captain prior to becoming chief in 1992. He is a 28-year veteran of the FDNY, and for the past nine years, he has presided over the department’s Battalion 11, covering Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

The public is welcome to attend the event. For ticket price info and more details, link here.