Mayor Bill de Blasio and Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro oversaw the FDNY Medal Day Ceremony on Wednesday, 14 April at 11am at Pier 17 – South Street Seaport in Manhattan. At the ceremony, awards were presented to FDNY Firefighters, Paramedics, EMTs, Fire Marshals and Officers for their life-saving work. This ceremony was scheduled for June, 2020, but was postponed due to Covid-19. Traditionally, FDNY Medal Day is held annually in the first week of June on the steps of City Hall.
Due to Covid-19, this was a closed ceremony with social distancing measures in place for medal recipients and those attending.
Notable medal recipients include:
- Firefighter John H. McCoy of Squad Company 288, inaugural recipient of the Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci Jr. Medal and NYS Honorary Fire Chiefs Association Medal. In 2019, Firefighter McCoy performed a daring rescue of a man from a warehouse fire in Queens just as portions of the building began to collapse due to explosions.
- Paramedics Niall C. O’Shaughnessy and Joshua S. Rodriguez of EMS Station 4 will receive the Christopher J. Prescott Medal for providing critical emergency medical care to multiple construction workers injured in a collapse on the 17th floor of a construction site in Manhattan in November 2019.
- Firefighter Daniel R. Foley of Rescue Company 3 will be posthumously awarded the Emerald Society Medal for rescuing two young children from a Bronx fire in February 2019. In February 2020, Firefighter Foley died of cancer related to his work in the World Trade Center Rescue and Recovery Effort. His brother, Firefighter Thomas Foley, also of Rescue Company 3, was one of 343 FDNY members killed on 11 September 2001.
For more information, go to www.fdny.org
