Ground Zero experience left indelible impression

By STEPHEN CLARK
Observer-Dispatch

In a frightening and ironic turn of events in December 1996, highly decorated firefighter Francis Manfredo, along with nine of his firefighting comrades, responded to a call about a man trapped inside of a burning three-story building at 849 Bleecker St.

No one was found inside the building as the firefighters searched for about 20 minutes. Before they could leave the third floor, the fire erupted into a blaze on the second floor, and the crew was trapped for what seemed like, as Manfredo described it, “forever.”

“I thought I was taking my last breaths,” said Manfredo, who was visibly shaken after viewing a videotape (captured by a local news station) of the fire. He also thought about his wife and two young daughters, he said.

Manfredo, like the other trapped firefighters, eventually found a window and jumped. Families and loved ones watched in terror as other firefighters came to the rescue. Manfredo suffered second-degree burns on his neck and shoulders. Other firefighters broke their ankles from the fall and sustained various injuries.

Although some of those firefighters never returned to work, Manfredo immediately came back, “before his burns healed,” said Fire Chief Russell Brooks. “He hasn’t taken a day off since.” Manfredo never fully recovered physically, Brooks said, and still could gain full disability today.

“But he never complains,” Brooks added.

Brooks nominated the 39-year-old Manfredo for the Accent on Excellence Award in a year that Manfredo was promoted to assistant fire chief, a role that requires Manfredo to help supervise the 130-member Utica Fire Department and the 80-member Emergency Medical Response Program.

Manfredo also helped assemble the Utica/New Hartford Hazardous Material Emergency Response team after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to respond to hundreds of anthrax scares in the area and lower the anxiety level.

“He’s a great person to know,” Brooks said. “You don’t meet many people like that in life who you’d trust with your own life.”

Manfredo said he was humbled by the award.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for the things you do for the job and the department,” Manfredo said. “I always strive to make the department better and constantly do more than what is necessary or expected. I’m very fortunate to work with the guys I have. I’ve had a tremendous career.”

During Manfredo’s courageous 19-year career, he went above and beyond the call of duty when he joined 11 other search-and-rescue volunteers at the World Trade Center in September of 2001.

“I thought that I had seen just about everything,” Manfredo wrote in the book “Twelve Valiant Men: Utica Firefighters at Ground Zero.”

“However, nothing could have prepared me for the almost surrealistic destruction we saw when we arrived in Manhattan ... even more disturbing than the site at Ground Zero were the looks of despair on so many people’s faces — images that I can never forget.”

In person, Manfredo added: “It was a privilege to offer assistance. I just wish I could have done more.”