Fire commish, American Legion commander always on the spot
The "Fire Cruiser" seldom sits idle for long. Its pilot, Ralph Esposito, has places to be, people to help.
A Vietnam Navy veteran, Esposito joined Elmont American Legion Post No. 1033 in 1964 and has served as its commander for the last three years. He is in charge of organizing all of the post's events, from setting up trips to see disabled veterans in V.A. hospitals across Long Island to making sure the post is represented at all parades and events in Elmont.
Locally, Esposito coordinates a program through Elmont's St. Vincent DePaul Roman Catholic Church in which legion members "adopt" a family in December and buy them Christmas gifts. This year, participants raised more than $1,000.
"He's involved with St. Vincent's every day to help out with whatever they need," said Esposito's friend of 40 years, Roger Albergo. "He's an invaluable man. He volunteers himself for anybody who might need help with anything. If you tell him you have a clogged pipe, he'll go home with you and try to fix it himself."
Esposito has also been a member of the Elmont Fire Department for 32 years. He served as chief from 1994 to 1995, is currently a commissioner and is the chairman of the 7th Battalion, which comprises seven county fire departments - Elmont, Franklin Square & Munson, West Hempstead, Hempstead, South Hempstead, Uniondale and Roosevelt. Any time there is a working house fire in one of these communities, Esposito gets a call from a fire dispatcher. When he arrives on the scene, he is the person the chief of the fire department looks to when he needs reinforcements. If the chief needs a crane to move large pieces of debris, Esposito places a call to the county and the Department of Public Works delivers a crane. If the situation calls for the Red Cross, Esposito calls them.
"I do it just for the thank-you people give me,"Esposito said. "What a wonderful feeling it is when someone says thank you."
For his selflessness, his drive to help others and for being one of the neighbors who make our communities better, Esposito is the Herald's Person of the Year.
Above and beyond his work for his beloved fire department and American Legion, he handles another job that is every bit as important: He is the point man on firefighter funerals. In the summer of 2001, the Elmont F.D. had a fire truck caisson built. A fire rig constructed with room in the rear for a casket, the truck was put to use almost immediately in the aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, in which killed 343 New York City firefighters died.
Esposito and Franklin Square department Commissioner Phil Malloy made the caisson available to any family of a fallen firefighter who wanted it. The pair met with more than 150 families and did their best to fulfill their funeral requests. Esposito called other departments to reserve their ladder trucks, which were parked on both sides of a funeral route with ladders extended and an American flag draped between the two, following firefighters' funeral protocol. Esposito drove the caisson in each of the 150 or so funerals.
"He's my partner," Malloy said. "For the firemen, everything's got to be perfect. He'd stand in the middle of the street and make sure the flag is at the right height, that the stars are on the right side."
Esposito and Malloy have continued the work they started after 9/11, and the two handle any firefighter funeral request, with Esposito always behind the wheel of the caisson. In November it was Malloy's family that needed Esposito's services. On Nov. 19, Malloy's brother-in-law and best friend, Paul Tritschler, an ex-chief of the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department and an inspector for the Elmont Fire District for the past two years, died six months after suffering a stroke after returning from a call on Father's Day.
"He took care of it all," Malloy said of Esposito. "He's a friend's friend. He's always there."
Taking care of things is what Esposito does. What else would you expect from a man who customized his car to look like a rescue vehicle?
"After all these years, at two o'clock in the morning, you still got Ralphie on the truck," Malloy said.
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