John B. Casey

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Personal History

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943 Chief Casey graduated from PS 104 in 1957. He began his education at Fort Hamilton High School in September of that year, graduating in June 1961. He then entered RCA Institute and graduated in 1963.

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His life long dreams of becoming a firefighter were realized with his appointment to the New York City Fire Department in October 1967. During his career as he moved up through the ranks, Chief Casey's training as a firefighter was continuous, attending courses in management, incident command, and hazardous materials. In September 2002 he was selected to be one of the first of 24 fire officers to attend The Fire Officers Management Institute conducted by the Columbia University School of Business. This was held at the GE Learning and Conference Center at Crotonville, New York.

 

Throughout his career Chief Casey had many challenging assignments including Captain and Commander of Ladder Company 24 located in Midtown Manhattan. In 1987 Chief Casey was promoted to Battalion Chief and while Battalion Commander of the First Battalion in lower Manhattan, he was on duty on February 1993 when terrorist struck the World Trade Center for the first time.

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Chief Casey was promoted to Deputy Chief in July 1997. In the Deputy Chief rank he commanded the 7th, 3rd and 1st Divisions. On 9/11/01 while in the 3rd Division (Midtown Manhattan) for the second time, terrorist struck the World Trade Center. This attack, the most horrific on the homeland in American history, devastated the ranks of the F.D.N.Y. During the nine months that the Fire Department operated at the World Trade Center, Chief Casey supervised units in the recovery operation.

 

The attack on the World Trade Center brought about many changes in the Fire Department. In September 2002 Chief Casey was promoted to Deputy Assistant Chief and in July 2003 to Assistant Chief as the Staten Island/Brooklyn South Borough Commander.

 

During Chief Casey's career he has been recognized by the Fire Department for acts of bravery, has received commendations from the federal government and has been honored by the Governor for his service.

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Chief Casey is proud, yet humbled, by his success in the Fire Department. He attributes this success to hard work and to many people throughout his life, his teachers, fellow firefighters but most of all his family, his mother and father for the values they gave him and especially to his wife Lorraine Fowler (class of 1961) for her encouragement and support. Chief Casey is indeed a role model for us to follow.

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