Sons of 9/11 firefighter denied chance at FDNY

By Ginny Privitar
GOSHEN — Goshen residents John P. Sullivan III and his brother Michael want to be firefighters, like their father and grandfather before them. Their dad, John P. Sullivan Jr., worked for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). He died on Christmas Eve in 2010 from pancreatic cancer that resulted from his recovery work at Ground Zero, when he spent days on end searching the wreckage for his fellow firefighters.

John said his dad was at Ground Zero on 9/11 and “pretty much around the clock for weeks afterwards, looking for his brothers.”

John is now 30 and Michael is 29. They've been waiting a long time to rise in the FDNY's civil service hiring list. But in May, an FDNY ruling knocked their standing down by several thousand points and dashed their hopes.

A 2003 civil service law amendment grants “legacy points” on civil service exams taken by the children of first responders who died from 9/11-related illnesses. The FDNY now finds that their father “died during administrative duty” and has stripped the Sullivans — and 11 others in the same position — of their points. Meanwhile, the adult children of EMTs who died of 9/11-related illnesses continue to receive legacy points.

Without those points, John and Michael's chances are fading. The fire department has started hiring from the civil service list. But because the department hires only every four years, by the next hiring round, both men will have “aged out” of eligibility.

Legacy points can make a huge difference in an applicant's standing because of the sheer number of applicants. A difference of two points can change an applicant's standing by thousands. Only two points separate Michael and John's scores on the civil service test. Yet, Michael was 284 on the hiring list and John was 821. John says he is mostly concerned about his brother, who, after losing the legacy points, will drop from 284 to somewhere past 11,000 on the list.

State Senators Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) and Greg Ball (R-Carmel) quickly spearheaded a bill to correct the disparity in time for the Sullivans to be part of the FDNY's current hiring from the civil service list. It will reclassify 9/11 illness-related firefighters' deaths as “in the line of duty” and restore the legacy points to the adult children of these men and thereby raise their standing in the civil service list.

The amendment was passed by the Legislature on June 18 but, inexplicably, has yet to be signed by Governor Cuomo. The bill is only 5 or 6 pages long, according to John Sullivan. Yet, this time-sensitive legislation has languished. The New York Daily News, CBS and NBC have reported on the problem. When media contacted the governor's office about the bill, Cuomo's spokespeople said the bill is under review but has not yet reached the governor's desk.

The Sullivans are appealing to the public for help in getting the governor to sign the bill. Those who want to assist should make a call, write a letter or email, or send a tweet to the governor urging him to sign the bill immediately. Every message counts.

A family tradition
John P. Sullivan Jr. worked for 27 years at Ladder 34 in Washington Heights in Manhattan. He was the senior man in his firehouse. His son John said everybody respected him.

“My brother (Michael) said, "He was the kind of man who walked quiet but carried a big stick. He was just truly a great guy. A fair man. A loyal man.”

His father organized an annual senior citizens dinner in Washington Heights for 20 years. The firefighters would cook up a great meal, and both sons would be enlisted to help. Their dad would buy poinsettias for the seniors to take home.

Although long divorced from their mother, John Jr. was very involved in his sons' lives.

“I'm sure everyone thinks they have the greatest dad, but we really did," said John III. "He coached every one of our sports teams. He never missed anything we were in, whether it was a sports game or a school function.”

His dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around Thanksgiving and died a month later at the age of 52. Less than two weeks after that, John III and his wife, Jaimee, welcomed a son, John P. Sullivan IV, the grandson their dad never got to see.

It's been tough on John and Michael.

“It was just like a time bomb," John said of his dad's illness. "It's the hardest thing I ever went through in my life. My dad was the strongest man I ever knew. He was so brave. He never really showed any fear during the whole process. He never even let his guard down. But he got worse every day.”

John will make sure that his now two-year-old son will know about his grandfather — and his great-grandfather, John Patrick Sullivan, who served for 21 years in the same firehouse in which his son served.

"My grandfather died at 49, my dad at 52," said John. "I said my dad was the strongest person I knew — forget that — my grandmother (Mary Sullivan) is the strongest person. She lived through my grandfather's death at 49 and my father's death at 52.”

How does his grandmother feel about her grandsons wanting to be firefighters, too?

“She couldn't be prouder of us," John said. Mary Sullivan of Goshen is an “unwavering supporter of the FDNY.”

Should her grandsons be given the chance to serve, like their father and grandfather before them?