By Kristin Hankla
The Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nick Giordano smiles as he remembers a happy-go-lucky Louis Mulkey grilling steaks.
Giordano, a former firefighter with the New York City Fire Department, first met Mulkey at the annual FDNY 9/11 Memorial Golf Outing held in Myrtle Beach. Mulkey and other members of the Charleston Fire Department contributed every year by cooking for participants.
But the most recent golf outing, held in late May, was Mulkey’s last.
Three weeks later the Sofa Super Store caught fire. Mulkey and eight other firefighters died in the blaze.
“When we found out we lost them in June ...” Giordano trails off. “I was very saddened after we lost those great guys.”
Now Giordano, whose relationship with the CFD spans three decades, is co-organizing an event to raise money for a memorial to the Charleston Nine. The Charleston Fire Department Memorial Safety and Survival Seminar will take place April 26 and 27 at Gaillard Auditorium.
The event is open to all members of the fire, EMS and rescue service. So far about 115 firefighters from Pennsylvania to Florida have signed up.
Each will pay $75 to attend, except members of the CFD, who will be admitted for free. All proceeds will go to the memorial, the specifics of which will be determined by the city, the fire department and residents, said Mark Ruppel, public information officer for the fire department.
“The department is extremely pleased and honored that this group is doing this for the city of Charleston Fire Department on their own time and own money and we hope that our firefighters and firefighters across the nation attend and benefit from it,” Ruppel said.
The speakers, all of whom are donating their time, are nationally renowned in the fire service industry, Giordano said. They include officers and firefighters from FDNY, District of Columbia Fire & Rescue and the Worcester (Mass.) Fire Department, which lost six firefighters in a warehouse fire in 1999.
Robert Cobb, deputy chief of the Jersey City Fire Department and the other organizer of the event, will discuss training rapid intervention crews.
Other topics include fireground responsibility, store fires, ISO ratings and fire service thermal imagers.
The editors-in-chief of two trade publications, Firehouse Magazine and Fire Engineering Magazine, have also signed on to speak.
The seminar’s turnout will determine if it becomes an annual event, Giordano said.
Giordano’s relationship with the local fire department began about 27 years ago when Joey Roberts and Robert O’Donnell, then teenagers, visited New York to ride with FDNY.
“They wanted to see what it was like to be firefighters in New York,” Giordano said. The friendship continued throughout the years and careers; now Roberts is a battalion chief and O’Donnell is assistant to the chief.
Later, when Giordano’s wife was at MUSC for cancer treatment, local firefighters came to visit the couple, even bringing sweatpants for Giordano’s wife to wear when she left the hospital.
After Sept. 11, 2001, a group of Charleston firefighters headed to New York to help FDNY in its time of need, and after June 18, New York firefighters came to Charleston.
Now Giordano will help his friends further.
“You want to have a fitting tribute, something that’s physical, for people to go to,” Giordano said. “It’s one of the ways we would like to remember them.”