GFD Ladder Truck #5 Carries 9-11 Ties

Every time the Glasgow Fire Department responds to a call for service in Ladder Truck #5, the spirits of brothers Peter and Thomas Langone live on.

Thomas, a cop with NYPD, and Peter, a firefighter with Squad 252 of Brooklyn, were killed on Sept. 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers collapsed.

The brothers had been at Ground Zero to help evacuate civilians.

Ladder Truck #5, formerly #565, was originally in service with Rescue Hook & Ladder Co. #1 of Roslyn, New York, which is located on Long Island. The brothers grew up in Roslyn. The truck was purchased and moved to Glasgow a few years ago.

The Langone brothers spent much of their off duty time with volunteer firefighters in Roslyn, training them to respond to fires and other emergency situations. Thomas had previously served as fire chief for the volunteer company, also known as Roslyn Rescue, and was assistant chief when 9-11 unfolded. Peter had previously served as captain.

"They were a huge asset to the district as a whole," Salvatore Mirra, Jr., President of Roslyn Rescue, told The Courier Monday over the phone from his Long Island office. "The dedication was unbelievable. Not only did they do this for a living - one was a cop, one was a fireman - but on their time off they basically made their second job here in Rosland as volunteer firemen, bringing all their knowledge and wisdom to their own community they learned in the city from their full time jobs."

Peter Langone, 41, a driver with Engine Company 252 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a specialty unit, was considered an ''elder statesman'' at the volunteer firehouse, driving the truck and showing rookies the ropes, according to an article published by The New York Times Dec. 11, 2001. His wife, Terri, and his daughters Nikki, 9, and Karli, 5, were often seen around the firehouse.

Thomas also taught firefighting techniques for Nassau County, and had been working toward a bachelor's degree from Empire State College so he could teach after retirement.

"They were both really hard workers, both family men," Mirra said. "I don't know how they did it, I will be honest with you, because when they weren't in the city being a police officer or a firefighter, they were out here helping the volunteer fire service out."

Sept. 11 was not the first terrorist attack Thomas had responded too. Thomas, of Emergency Service Truck 10 in Queens, volunteered to search the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

"You had hope you would find someone alive," Thomas said at the time about the Oklahoma bombing search and rescue. "It was kind of depressing when you found another dead body."

In 1990, the brothers responded to the site of the Avianca crash in Oyster Bay, according to The New York Times. And, in 1993, the brothers responded to the World Trade Center bombing.

On Sept. 11, the Langone brothers arrived separately not long before the twin towers collapsed.

Eight people from the Roslyn area, including Brett Owen Freiman, Robert Hussa, Joseph Maio, Arlene Fried, Michael Haub, Marcus Neblett and the Langone brothers, perished on 9-11, according to The Roslyn News.

Details about where the Langone brothers were located when they died was scarce before press time, but an article published by the Long Island Herald indicated FDNY Firefighter Timothy Brian Higgins, also a member of Squad 252, died when the South Tower collapsed. Higgin's brothers, firefighters who had survived the attacks, began searching for Timothy in the following days.

The brothers referred to Ground Zero as "The Pile," and relied on radio communications made by firefighters before they died, as well as listings of where each company was, to locate Timothy's last remains.

"Nothing resembled a single office building the first day [of the search]," Joe Higgins told The Herald."It was all rubble and concrete and sand and what have you. But guess what? A couple of days went by and you started recognizing things - stair risers and things like that - and you got a guesstimation of when [the firefighters] responded and how high they went up. And hearing transmissions - hearing your brother's voice on transmissions and hearing people that were trapped and hearing guys saying that jet fuel was coming down and burning on the way down as the South Tower collapsed - and what they were doing, trying to buy time to meet each other, to get themselves out for their evacuations ... It's remarkable how these guys tried to cheat time and save their comrades."

Joe, now retired, and his surviving brothers eventually found Timothy's remains, covering a civilian woman. His last act was an attempt to protect her from the falling debris. His remains were largely intact, which could not be said for many other firefighters lost that day.

"We found the headpiece of [a] firefighter [whose body] wasn't found," Joe said. "There were people that didn't find a fingernail."

A lasting legacy

The firefighters who now respond to calls in Ladder Truck #5 pay homage to the two brothers' memory every time they gear up.

"There is a lot of history," Wesen said. "It is an honor to have this rig which came out of New York. It didn't actually go to Ground Zero, but they lost a brother at 9-11. It is a war wagon."

"It makes you thankful for all the brothers you've got, that is for sure" added Glasgow firefighter Butch Heitman. "You think, 'that could be anyone of us.'"

Additionally, Ladder Truck #5 is much more than a memorial, it is a living legacy.

"It is a huge asset to the city of Glasgow and the surrounding areas," Wesen said. "We've got a 105-foot stick. There isn't any building in Valley County we can't hit the top of."

Procurement of the ladder truck also improved the insurance rating for Valley County residents, Heitman said. The Insurance Services Office (ISO) provides Fire Suppression Rating Schedules for communities based on the ability and equipment of the area fire departments. The better the rating, the less home and business owners are forced to pay on fire insurance.

"It is saving the tax payers money," Heitman said, adding the addition of the ladder truck dropped the area from an ISO rating of 6 down to 4 when it went into service a few years ago.

They were a 6 and are now a 4.

The red 105 HDA heavy duty ladder truck is about 42-feet-long, and provides tools not otherwise available to area firefighters, Heitman said.

"It is a giant toolbox because it has so much more space than any other engine. We carry ropes and different saws that we don't have the space for in any other engine."

And, "she will also throw a lot of water real quick," Wesen added with a grin.

Although the truck is already about 20-years-old, the old gal shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, Heitman said.

"This era was as good as they got."

"You don't have any electronics," Wesen added. "She is all mechanical. She is a beauty."

Two decades later

Mirra said 20 years have flown by fast.

"It went quick. I will tell you that much."

And while every Sept. 11 is a solemn time of remembrance, the 20th anniversary of the attacks was something more.

"It was a milestone," Mirra said. "We felt we definitely had to do something a little extra. We had a big ceremony at the fire house where we brought the [Langone] families ... and did a nice little ceremony to remember them. It is pretty wild that a lot of the members we have now don't even know who these people were. They hear stories... so they can get a better understanding of the impact these two individuals had here."

Mirra said the members of Roslyn Rescue were fortunate to have served with the Langone brothers.

"Unfortunately they got cut short," Mirra said. "We have to continue the legacy they left us."