Firefighters Serve Up Generosity

Ventura Fire Department Capt. Mike Fargo never met Brian Cannizzaro, but he says he loves him like a brother.

Cannizzaro was a New York City firefighter who went into the burning World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and never came out.

Sunday morning, amid laughter and the lingering smell of pancakes and sausage, Fargo, his fellow Ventura firefighters and their families and friends paid tribute to their fallen East Coast comrades with a breakfast fund-raiser at Buena High School.

Proceeds will be sent to the families of the firefighters who died.

To honor the memory of Cannizzaro, Fargo pinned to his uniform a small black strip of paper with the firefighter’s name written in gold ink. Countywide, firefighters placed black bands across their badges to honor their fallen colleagues.

The firefighters’ counterparts in Oxnard also honored the fallen rescuers Sunday, holding a memorial service at the downtown Plaza Park.

All of the men and women who died in the trade center’s two towers, Fargo said, were ordinary people who took heroic actions before the buildings collapsed.

“It is a brotherhood and sisterhood, and it doesn’t matter what color your uniform is or what ethnicity you are,” Fargo said. “Every firefighter here would have gone side by side to dig and help find people alive.”

As the breakfast was getting started, reminders of the nearly month-old attack resurfaced when word circulated of the news Sunday that American and British bombers had hit terrorist positions in Afghanistan.

“We have to go get them,” said Arthur Hale, 81, a Ventura resident who came to breakfast with his son, Doug. “People don’t like violence, but look what they did to our [firefighters].”

A team of Ventura firefighters flipped hot cakes and grilled sausages while another group served the breakfasts to visitors, who each paid $5.

This was the second fund-raiser by Ventura firefighters to help families of the 343 New York City firefighters who died after terrorists hijacked and slammed two commercial jets into the World Trade Center.

Attacks United Firefighters

About a week ago, a group of city firefighters stood for four hours at the corner of Main and California streets and collected more than $14,000.

David Endaya, a Ventura firefighter who organized Sunday’s breakfast, said he hopes the breakfast was equally successful.

Besides selling food, firefighters sold their entire stock of T-shirts imprinted with the American flag and patriotic slogans. The total proceeds for the day were not immediately available, but about 400 people came to the event.

“This has been an eye-opener for us,” Endaya said of the attacks. “It can happen to anyone at any time, and it has rallied the fire service.”

The money collected from both fund-raisers will be sent to the New York Firefighters’ 911 Relief Fund, he said.

Inside the cafeteria at a small table, volunteers handed out black paper wristbands to diners, each bearing the name of a New York City firefighter killed Sept. 11.

Captain Fargo’s 13-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, handed out wristbands to anyone who wanted one. Across from her at another table, a list of dead firefighters was displayed.

The list seemed to go on forever, said John Duff, a 20-year veteran of the Ventura Fire Department.

“You see the names and it’s hard to believe,” Duff said.

Kaitlyn Fargo said she now prays every night that her father never faces a similar fate as the New York City firefighters.

“Every time he goes to work, I know there is a chance he’ll never come back,” she said while sorting through a pile of wristbands. “If something were to happen to him, I don’t know what I would do. A part of me would be gone.”

N.Y. Crews’ Courage a Point of Pride

During the breakfast, some firefighters spoke proudly of their East Coast brethren’s courage amid the chaos after the attacks, while others, such as Firefighter Chuck Young, lamented the loss of so many lives so quickly.

For a moment, Young shook his head in silence as he stared at the griddle.