Nesconset funeral for another FDNY casualty of 9/11

Fellow firefighters, family and friends gathered in Nesconset on Thursday for the funeral of a former FDNY fire marshal and Ronkonkoma resident, one of four retired city firefighters to die of 9/11-related illnesses in as many days. 

In front of an audience of about 200 outside Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, firefighters gave Jack McCauley, 65, a decorated procession, with bagpipes and an FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigation engine leading his hearse to the church. The coffin for McCauley, a 29-year department veteran who died Sunday of cancer, was draped in the FDNY flag and fire officials presented his helmet to his wife.

FDNY Deputy Chief Vincent Mandala, of Staten Island, died Tuesday of 9/11-related illnesses. Michael Verzi, 67, who worked for 25 years as an FDNY firefighter in the Bronx, also died Sunday. On Saturday, Robert Reynolds also a 20-year firefighter in the Bronx, died of illnesses from working at Ground Zero.

The sudden toll of fallen firefighters has become all too common for the FDNY as it still deals with the health effects of 18-months spent digging through the pile after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and recently marked 20 years since the mission ended.

"It was just the anniversary of the closing of the rescue and recovery effort, and this week we lost four guys to World Trade Center illnesses," said FDNY Lt. James McCarthy, who also serves as the Uniformed Fire Officers Association president.

"There's still a significant number of our members facing illness and feeling the impact years later," he said.

A total of 287 firefighters have died since 9/11, in addition to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives during the collapse of the Twin Towers, McCarthy said. He said 70% of current FDNY firefighters joined after 9/11, but hundreds of other first responders still face ailments.

McCarthy said firefighters will eventually need to return to Congress to ask for an extension of portions of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act that deal with medical benefits, which he added, are scheduled to expire in five years.

“Just about every single person has some sort of a malady that goes from a cough to cancer. We don’t know the breadth of this until everybody’s passed away,” McCarthy said. “It hits home right now because there are guys that died this week, 21 years later, and this funding’s going to end, but we’re all still alive.”

At McCauley's funeral, sons Daniel and Jack McCauley III eulogized their father, noting he would hate the pomp and circumstances surrounding him.

Daniel McCauley said despite his father's gruff exterior as a fire investigator, he loved playing with his grandchildren and being with his family.

“He was a mountain of a man packed into a smaller frame,” McCauley said. “He could command a room with the sound of his voice and you’d think he was 7 feet tall.”

McCauley said his father was always willing to help out, lending money, learning to be a notary public or fixing things around the house.

Jack McCauley III talked about his father’s fight with cancer, his voice quivering as he remembered those final days. He called his father a “hero and a “warrior” for dedicating his life to the fire service and working on 9/11, as well as battling illness for the past two years.

“My father was a lover,” Jack McCauley said. “Deep down, was a man, who after having two buildings drop on his head, called me to tell me he was OK because that’s what was important to him.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of firefighters who lost their lives during the collapse of the Twin Towers.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.