By:Jeff Lipton
When firefighter Kevin O'Rourke lost his life amid the rubble of the World Trade Center, his comrades vowed that his heroic deeds would not be forgotten.
They have come through on their promise. In two months, more than two years after the terrorist attacks, during which O'Rourke, a former volunteer with the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, rescued and evacuated several victims as a member of Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn, his selfless actions will be immortalized.
A street dedication ceremony has been planned for mid-October, when Washington Avenue, between Central Avenue and Broadway, will also become known as "Firefighter Kevin O'Rourke Way." The street runs parallel to the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, where O'Rourke served for seven years, from 1975 to 1982, before he became a member of the Hewlett Fire Department when he moved to Hewlett with his family.
A plaque also will be dedicated to the fallen firefighter, and will be placed at the memorial site at the firehouse on Washington Avenue. Organizers of the event are working on having members of O'Rourke's Rescue Squad attend the ceremony to pay homage to their fallen comrade.
"He was a friend of ours for a long time," said Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Chief John Heidrich. "He grew up in the area. He joined when he was 18 years old. He was a very active fireman."
Heidrich pitched the idea of the street dedication to remember O'Rourke to the Village of Cedarhurst a few months ago, and Village Mayor Andrew Parise said he was very receptive to it. A "Firefighter Kevin O'Rourke Way" sign will be placed on top of the current Washington Avenue sign, so the street name will not change.
The dedication will be similar to the one honoring William "Red" Holzman on Ocean Point Avenue in Cedarhurst, where the late New York Knicks coach lived for many years.
"I think it's great," Parise said of the idea for a street dedication for O'Rourke. "You can't do too much for these guys. I agreed right away to do it."
The mayor said he first discussed the idea with the Village's Board of Trustees, who were also in favor of the dedication.
The village is working on a memorial of its own in Cedarhurst Park, where Parise hopes to honor several local victims of the World Trade Center tragedy, including O'Rourke, firefighter Joseph Rivelli Jr. of Inwood, state court officer Thomas Jurgens of Meadowmere Park and Port Authority Chief Neil Levin, an Atlantic Beach native.
Parise said village officials are doing some fund-raising to build the memorial, which will include a pedestrian walkway and benches and may cost anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000. Parise said he has one of the beams from the World Trade Center, which he was allowed to take with the city's blessings and which will be a part of the memorial in Cedarhurst Park.
"I was shooting for September for that," Parise said. "But I have not gotten the sketches yet. It will take some time.
Heidrich said that after the street dedication to O'Rourke, there will be a picnic for the O'Rourke family. "They are happy we are doing this for them," Heidrich said. "They are very nice people.
"Kevin was an outstanding firefighter and an outstanding person," the fire chief added. "He was a guy who was very kind and was an excellent fireman. I was very proud to know him."
Heidrich said firefighters still feel the hurt, which will probably never go away, from the Sept. 11 attacks. "The healing process continues over here," he said. "We like to finalize this [dedication]. After all, it's things like this that keep us going."
Organizers said they are still working on a final date for the dedication ceremony, and know only that it will occur sometime in the middle of October.
O'Rourke, who was one of the first to arrive at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, helped evacuate many before the buildings came down. His body was found amid the rubble only weeks after the collapse.
During O'Rourke's funeral at St. Joachim R.C. Church in Cedarhurst on Sept. 28, 2001, then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said, "Everyone should know what a hero [O'Rourke] was." After the dedication ceremony, organizers are confident that everyone will know.
