From the Vault:
One Hundred Years Ago-
Another fireman chosen to be in the new Rescue Company was: John F. Mooney from Ladder Co. 4.
In 1912 Mooney made a daring rescue at 252 West 47th Street and was awarded the Wertheim and Department Medals.
On March 24, 1913 Ladder 4 arrived at the fire building, 320 West 58th Street, where a woman was clinging to a fourth floor window sill in the rear of the blazing building. The inner stairs were a sheet of flames so Mooney and Lt. Simpson hurried up the ladder to the roof.
Mooney laid flat on the roof and inched forward extending his head, then shoulders, then his upper body to the waist over the roof’s edge as the officer held his legs. Mooney leaned and stretched as far down as he could and grasped the woman by her hands. Using tremendous strength Mooney pulled her upwards. She and Mooney were now both dangling 60-feet above the ground. With an obstacle near the cornice Mooney extended himself even further to get into position to muscle her up and over the piece of iron work.
With one last effort the woman was raised up and over the ironwork and onto the roof.
This was the fourth time Mooney had been placed on the Roll of Merit.
The following year found Mooney on the steps of City Hall again. This time Mayor Mitchel was pinning the James Gordon Bennett and Department Medals on Mooney’s chest, for the best rescue of the year.
As the mayor pinned the two new medals on him he remarked, “You haven’t room for many more!”
He was an obvious choice for Rescue Company 1.