Salvatore Joseph "Sal" Cassano (born 22 January 1945) served as the 32nd

New York City Fire Commissioner The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. There have been 34 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 38 commission ...

from 2010 to 2014.

NYC Fire Commissioner

His appointment as New York City Fire Commissioner by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to succeed

Nicholas Scoppetta Nicholas Scoppetta (November 6, 1932 – March 24, 2016) was the 31st New York City Fire Commissioner. He was appointed to that position by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on January 1, 2002 and was succeeded by Salvatore Cassano on January 1, 2010. H ...

was announced on 21 December 2009, and became effective on 1 January 2010. Cassano was sworn in on 11 January 2010. On May 9, 2014, Daniel A. Nigro was announced as Cassano's successor as commissioner of the FDNY, effective June 9, 2014.

Background

A son of Italian-American immigrants, Cassano was born in the

Carroll Gardens Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the G ...

section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, and lives on Staten Island. After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, he began a career as a firefighter in November 1969. He earned an associate degree in

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...

technology from

New York City College of Technology The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1946, it is the City University of New York's college of technology. History City Tech was founded in 1946 as The New York State Institute of ...

in 1970, and a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in fire science from

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts ...

in 1976.

Career

Cassano served in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and Brooklyn, and was honored five times during his career for bravery. He received commendations for meritorious acts between 1979 and 1983 for rescuing five people from burning apartments, all in Brooklyn. Cassano held every rank in the department during his career (beginning as a firefighter in 1969), including promotions to Lieutenant in August 1977, Captain in April 1984, Battalion Chief in August 1987, Deputy Chief in June 1993, Deputy Assistant Chief in November 1999, and Assistant Chief in April 2001. He was also instrumental in rebuilding the department after 343 firefighters died as a result of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, after which he was named Chief of Operations and served at this post, succeeding Daniel A. Nigro until 2006. He was appointed Chief of Department, the highest uniformed position in the department, succeeding Peter E. Hayden in 2006, and his appointment as Fire Commissioner was announced by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on December 21, 2009. In 2011, in recognition of his service to the city of New York, he received the

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

. He was retained by new Mayor Bill De Blasio on what he emphasized was on an interim basis.

Personal

Cassano and his wife, Theresa ( ''née'' Wallace), live in the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

section of Staten Island, where they raised their family. They have five children and eight grandchildren. A marathon runner, he has run the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor (commercial), sponsor) is an annual Marathon (sport), marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest mar ...

four times and has broken the three-hour mark. Cassano practices the

Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes ...

technique and recommends it as a stress management tool for first responders and firefighters who deal with crisis and trauma, "going from 0-100 every single day."

NYC Fire Commissioner

Background

Career

Personal

References

Further reading