FDNY lieutenant answers final alarm, retiring after serving more than 4 decades
CLAREMONT, The Bronx (WABC) -- In the FDNY's 160-year history, just 213 members have served more than four decades in the department's ranks.
After an extraordinary career, Lt. Michael Conboy answered his final alarm, becoming number 214.
"I always used to joke around and said, 'I'm going to work till my wheels fall off,'" said Lt. Conboy of FDNY Rescue Company 3.
After rescuing three children from the deadly Dyckman fire just last week, some might say the wheels on Lt. Conboy are still rolling.
At Rescue 3, his name is at the top of the ride list. His equipment still hangs in his gear rack. But after 41 years with the FDNY, Friday is his last day on the job.
"I can't put my finger on one thing, but I just knew that's what I wanted to do," Conboy said.
His first day on the job was in February of 1985. He was 23 years old.
"Second day on the job... it was two men hanging out the windows, and both of them fell, and five years later, I was in a bar and a guy kept staring at me," Conboy said. "He goes, 'I never forget you. You picked me up when I fell out the window with the fire.'"
This was the beginning of four decades of responding to some of New York's deadliest tragedies: the Happy Land fire in 1990, the 1998 El Hoyo Social Club fire, and in 2001, three firefighters were killed in June in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587, which killed 260 people aboard, and the deadliest day in FDNY history when 343 firefighters lost their lives on September 11th.
"In Rescue 3 that day, eight members were killed," Conboy said. "Their wives and their kids are coming back to be here with me, so that's probably one of the highlights of this day for me."
A hefty stream of firefighters, both active and retired, are saying their farewells.
But the biggest chapter of Conboy's life might be yet to come.
"I'm very blessed to have 10 grandchildren. So, those 10 could well keep me busy," he said.
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