For most of his life, Joseph Downey has lived by three simple principles: faith, family and fitness.
Underlying them all is a fourth — the FDNY.
They all came together several years ago when Downey ran an extended 34.3-mile marathon to to honor the 343 firefighters killed on 9/11, including his grandfather, decorated FDNY Deputy Chief Raymond Downey.
And, it is all coming together again on Thursday when Downey graduates from the department’s Fire Academy to become a third-generation FDNY firefighter.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Downey said as he continued to count the days until his graduation. “It’s starting to feel more real every day.”
Even though Downey’s grandfather was a firefighter, and his father, uncle and cousins are, too, he insists his family would have been OK with him being a lawyer or an accountant.
But honestly, he said, the thought never crossed his mind.
“Growing up, the only thing I knew was being a firefighter,” Downey, 28, said. “I always wanted to be like my father, and he’d say the same about following in his father’s footsteps.”
About those footsteps. These aren’t just any footsteps. They are Downey legendary firefighter footsteps forged in the rubble of the fallen Twin Towers, and revered by any firefighter who has ever carried a hose.
Downey’s grandfather was one of the FDNY’s most decorated firefighters and a bona fide department icon. The nickname said it all. They called him “God and Master of Disaster.”
But what Raymond Downey, a 63-year-old father of five, wasn’t was Superman.
He was a panel member of a presidential committee on terrorism, a founding member of the FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Team network and the chief in charge of the FDNY’S Special Operations Command.
But none of that was enough to shield him from the weight of the World Trade Center when the second tower collapsed after the terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan, when his grandson Joseph was just 5 years old.
Downey said he doesn’t remember much from that day, just that he was dropped off at a friend’s house. The rest he’s had to piece together from stories he has heard from relatives and other firefighters, including his father, also named Joseph, who spent months on the Ground Zero pile in a faithful search for remains.
Eight months passed before a DNA analysis identified bone fragments from the missing fire chief.
Downey’s dad, the FDNY’s chief of rescue operations, is 64 now, older than his father ever got to be.
“We talked about how he outlived his dad,” Downey said. “He doesn’t talk about it much. But he knows the job is in good hands.”
But with all the talk about his father’s firefighting bloodline, Downey credits his mother for keeping him focused.
“She’s my best friend,” he said. “She really took care of us in some of those darker days after 9/11.”
Downey admits that bearing his family’s legacy is like carrying an extra load.
“The pressure can be like the weight of the world,” Downey said. “But I always said pressure is a privilege.”
He said he always remembers that every time he hears a story about how his grandfather inspired another firefighter.
“It gives me goose bumps,” he said. “It’s an honor to be able to carry on my family’s name.”