John O'Connell

, Male

Walden New York

Profile Information:

Lives in:
Walden, New York
Department:
Retired FDNY Res3cue
Title/rank:
rescue firefighter
Years of public service:
26
Topics you provide training for:
firefighting and technical rescue
Areas of expertise:
firefighting and technical rescue, served in Bed- Sty Ladder 102 7 years and Rescue 3 the Bronx and Harlem 18 years
Bio:
JOHN P. O’CONNELL
RESCUE COMPANY NO. 3 (Retired)
FIRE DEPARTMENT CITY OF NEW YORK
Member of the FDNY for over 26 years, assigned to the departments heavy technical and collapse Rescue Company No. 3 for over 18 years.
Previously served in Engine 257 Canarsie, Brooklyn for one year and Hook & Ladder 102 in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn for 7 years.
John has just recently retired from the Fire Department of the City of New York. When John retired not only was he the senior man of Rescue 3 for 5 years he retired as the senior firefighter in the FDNY’s Special Operations Command.
Member of the North Bellmore N. Y. volunteer fire department for 5 years
NEW YORK STATE CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR, advanced level # 0793- 3073B
ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR, N. Y. S. Academy of Fire Science
Currently a certified STATE FIRE INSTRUCTOR for the STATE OFFICE OF FIRE PREVENTION AND CONTROL.
CERTIFIED by the STATE OF NEW YORK to teach; Trench Rescue; Confined Space Rescue, Rope Rescue, Rescue Shoring Operations, All Phases of Structural Collapse Rescue, Ice Rescue, as well as numerous firefighting courses
NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT DIVISION OF TRAINING, certified instructor, Lead Instructor, Structural Collapse Rescue Operations, trench rescue, Rigging, Vehicle extrication and all disciplines of US&R
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER, Fire Engineering Magazine
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, Fire Engineering Magazine
MEMBER OF FDIC ADVISORY STAFF
LEAD H.O.T. COORDINATOR FDIC, FDIC East, FDIC West
AUTHOR OF 34 ARTICLES on structural collapse related topics in several trade journals
PUBLISHED in four FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Speaker at the FIREHOUSE EXPO, Baltimore MD, ASH-RAND RESCUE CONFERENCE, South Carolina, 1996 PITTSBURGH RESCUE CONFERENCE, COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA FIRE CHIEFS CONFERENCE, FDIC CONFERENCE INDIANAPOLIS IND. 10 years
LEAD HOT INSTRUCTOR FOR COLLAPSE RESCUE- FDIC EAST AND WEST, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000,2001,2002,2003,2004
Speaker at the 2000,2001,2002 FDIC WEST CONFERENCE
Speaker at the 1997,2001 DISASTER RELIEF CONFERENCE, TOKYO, JAPAN
CONSULTANT TO PARATECH INC. manufacturers of rescue tools and equipment. CONSULTANT TO NASAR INC. in structural collapse operations
Wrote and taught the FDNY’ S TRENCH RESCUE PROGRAM and the COLLAPSE RESCUE SHORING, VOID SEARCH, AND CONCRETE CUTTING OPERATIONS curriculum. Involved in the development, writing and teaching of the FDNY’ S COLLAPSE RESCUE CURRICULUM. Member of the TECHNICAL RESCUE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE for the STATE OF NEW YORK
GROUP LEADER OF THE BUILDING COLLAPSE AND TRENCH RESCUE development committee for the STATE OF NEW YORK
PRINCIPLE MEMBER of the N F P A Technical committee on TECHNICAL RESCUE 1670. TASK GROUP LEADER for the STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE SECTION of NFPA 1670 for the past 7 years
Former Member of the FEMA US&R NEW YORK Task Force 1, NY-TF-1 Task Force Leader, 2001- 2004 CURRENTLY A Rescue Team Manager FOR IN-TF-1
Member of the FEMA US&R INCIDENT SUPPORT TEAM, for 12 years, has served on numerous deployments as shoring officer, US&R specialist, situation unit leader, transportation unit leader, DeMob unit leader, deputy ops chief and operations chief
Member of the FEMA US&R committee for SHORING CRITERIA
Member of the FEMA US&R Development cadre for RESCUE SPECIALIST TRAINING
LEAD SHORING INSTRUCTOR for FEMA US&R RESCUE SPECIALIST TRAINING
SHORING OPERATIONS OFFICER, FEMA Incident Support Team, The OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING & THE HUMBERTO VIDAL COLLAPSE, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Operated at BOTH WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING’S as well as several dozen collapses throughout the NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA
IN CHARGE OF ALL UNDERGROUND AND CONFINED SPACE PENETRATIONS AT THE 9-11 WTC INCIDENT
Was the technical advisor to the incident commander at the WORLD TRADE CENTER COLLAPSE. FDNY representative to the Civilian Contractors during the WTC Incident
PRESIDENT OF COLLAPSE RESCUE SYSTEMS INC. a consulting and training organization dealing primarily in the field of TECH
Web site:
http://www. collapserescue.com

Comment Wall:

  • John O'Connell

    Glad to be on this site, I look forward to inteacting with everyone in the fire service !!!
  • Patrick Harper

    Nice picture.
  • Joel Thacker

    Hello John, Look forward to catching up with you at FDIC.
  • Diane Feldman

    Hooray! You are so high tech.
  • Lyle Hoyt

    Hey John,
    Glad you are here. You should post your teaching schedule here. I know about Indy of course but where are you traing after that?
  • Timothy Overly

    Thanks for the add. Stay safe
  • Larry Collins

    Hi John, good to hear from you. Yeah, I'll be in Indy April 10, 11, 12. Let's have a cigar and you can tell me about your latest escapades! Are you writing another book? You should write one about your years in Res3cue; you're one of the better writers around and it would be interesting.

    Okay, see you in Indy!

    Lar-Dog
  • Nanci

    Johnny I don't know whats better looking you or all that GOLD!!!!
    Looking forward to seeing you on Indy...
  • John O'Connell

    the gold !!!!
  • Forest Reeder

    Hey John, hope things are well.

    Got any good leads on I/C worksheets for collapse operations? Specifically some points for safety officers to watch for, ways to assess stability of primary collapse areas.
  • Gerald "Jerry" Tracy

    Hi John
    The research with live fire and wind on Governors Island was my last project with the inception of a training program. After that I plan to ride my Road King into the sunset.
  • John O'Connell

    good for you ! glad to see you on here
  • Andrew Jones

    The only problem with this site is that you know who you are e-mailing to! It takes the fun out of it!
  • John O'Connell

    Thanks Robert, will see you out there... we have all our instructors at this time,,,,but i will keep you in mind if anyone drops out !!!
  • David Ebel

  • George Nour

    John,

    Couldn't get to Indy this year, but hopefully next year. I need to give you a shout to let you know what is going on here in Atlanta. I will try you next week some time. I am in New Mexico this week taking a class.

    Stay Safe.

    George
  • Troy L. Wymer

    Thanks John.. It was a busy but enjoyable week. I appreciate your hard work with HOT. Look forward to seeing you soon.
  • TR Hagerty

    Thanks for the add to my friends list. It was great to meet you at FDIC. I was the safety officer for Leigh. TR
  • Bill Peters

    Hey John! I'm a little slow on the blog if you know what I mean! Still busy though!

    Bill
  • Stephen Florian

    hey john the clada was always good
  • Christopher Naum, SFPE

    Hey John;
    Hope all is well- our paths haven't crossed in a while, hope to see you soon. Stay safe....
  • Spencer L. Garden

    hey jon. how ya doin??? this is spencer the bus driver from tulsa.??? what a blast we had eatin here at famous dave's and carraba's how ya been.???
    spencer
  • Jenn Ross..aka "J-RO"

    John, You might not remember me, but I'm Bobby, Ray, and Leigh's friend here in Tulsa. It was a High Honor to finally meet you. Looking forward to seeing you in INDY and even here in Tusla next year. We're ordering cooler temps.
    Hope you and your family the happiest of Holidays.
    Jenn
  • Rick Fritz

    I'M HOME EVERYTHING WENT WELL! THE PUMP IS IN AND WORKING! I GO FOR THE FIRST ADJUSTMENT TOWARDS THE THERAPUTIC LEVEL ON WED. YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS WORKED!

    THANKS!
    RICK