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Fire chief owned East Lake condo
By RICHARD DANIELSON
© St. Petersburg Times, EAST LAKE -- New York fire department Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr. planned to one day spend his winters playing golf at the East Lake Woodlands Country Club while his wife, Kathleen, relaxed by the pool. But as the top uniformed officer in a department of more than 11,000 firefighters, Ganci couldn't find the time for even one visit to the St. Andrews condominium he purchased here in 1999, according to a friend and former colleague. "It was going to be his winter home," retired New York fire lieutenant and East Lake resident Jay Tavalaro said this week. "He never made it down here once. When you're the chief of the fire department, it's a 24/7 kind of deal." Ganci, 54, was one of more than 300 rescue workers killed or missing and presumed dead in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers Sept. 11. Ganci, whose official title was FDNY chief of department, died after rushing to the Trade Center when the first jet struck. Reportedly, he yelled down the hall to his commanders, "Look out your windows, the World Trade Center's been hit by a plane!" Then everyone, including Ganci, scrambled for their gear. Newsday reported that he was in the basement of the second tower when it collapsed, but he dug himself out of the rubble. Ganci then directed Mayor Rudy Giuliani, fire commissioners and others to clear out of the area because it was apparent the first tower would fall. But instead of following them, he went in the other direction to continue the rescue effort. "I'm not leaving my men," Ganci said, according to firefighters on the scene. "The people that he pushed north . . . made it," Tavalaro said. "He went in a southerly direction to aid some people. The people he pushed all survived. He didn't. That's Pete. He lived for the fire department." A former paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, Ganci was a 33-year veteran of the fire department who was decorated repeatedly for bravery. In comments at a medals ceremony last year, Ganci told firefighters, "Wherever needed, we go. While a dangerous and difficult job, firefighting is still the best profession of all." According to the Washington Post, he loved to visit fire stations and sit in the kitchens where firefighters used their down time and imagination to cook extravagant meals for each other. He gave new firefighters two pieces of advice: "When you walk out the door in the morning, don't let your wife see how happy you are to go to work," and "Never tell your wife how good the station house food is. If she asks, tell her you had hot dogs." Away from work, he liked clamming, crabbing and golfing. The golf course was one of the things that drew him to East Lake Woodlands. Tavalaro, 59, who met Ganci in the late 1960s when they were both young firefighters in Brooklyn, said Ganci visited him a few years ago and "really loved the Palm Harbor area." Ganci and his wife bought the condo soon afterward. "I just talked to his wife at his funeral last week, and she mentioned that she planned to sit by the pool and he planned to play golf," Tavalaro said. "The sad part is they never got to enjoy it." On Thursday, several residents in Ganci's building on Lindsay Lane said they had no idea that they had lost a neighbor they never had the chance to meet. Somehow, that brought a chilling tragedy even closer than they realized. "It's just too bad he never got a chance to use it as he intended," said Helen Plummer, who lives two doors down from the Gancis' condo. "I'm very sorry to hear that," said upstairs neighbor Nancy Caplinger. "It's a waste." - Information from Times researcher John Martin, Newsday and the Washington Post was used in this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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