Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
Firefighter Close Calls has the story on Roy Chelsen. He is a September 11th hero who risked his life to make it back to the North Tower amid bodies falling from the upper floors to warn other firefighters of the towers imminent collapse.
Roy is the 3rd LODD of 2011.
Roy Chelsen
Roy died of bone-marrow cancer that has been linked to his weeks of work at ground zero after September 11th.
Roy was 51 years and is survived by his wife Trish and son Christopher, 24.
He was stationed at Engine 28 in East Village and died peacefully at his home in upstate New York on Sunday.
More information on Roy Chelsen:
- On Facebook
- Firefighter Close Calls
- Heroic 9/11 first responder Roy Chelsen loses battle with cancer at 51
Sidenote:
One of the most famous photos of FDNY firefighters operating during the Terrorist attacks is of Mike Kehoe, also of Engine 28. He worked along side of Roy. His picture is below. More information on Mike and the famous photo here.
ANDRE LAMBERTSON/CORBIS SIGMA FOR TIME
Fire Critic Note:
I made a pact with myself that I would cover every single Line of Duty Death this year. Here it is the 10th of January and we have had 3 already. The thing about LODD’s is that they aren’t that easy to cover….physically and emotionally. I learn about each firefighter and I have the potential of interviewing the survivors at the NFFF Memorial Service in Emmittsburg, MD later in the year with Firefighter Netcast. That is the emotional side of things. Physically, it is hard to get this information out quickly and be correct everytime. I am sure I will screw something up. I have posted before the USFA has deemed deaths to be LODD’s. That is just part of the protocol for USFA. The LODD’s have to be identified and paperwork filed by the department. Therefore, what I deem an LODD may not be in the end. To each his own. I might cover some of the IAFF and non-USFA LODD’s as well. We will see how my coverage ends up.
