By Michael R. Sisak
NEW YORK (AP) --Bill Feehan was so knowledgeable about the New York City Fire Department's operations and history, colleagues say, he would have been the one leading its recovery had he survived the attack on the World Trade Center.
Feehan, the department's first deputy commissioner, was the highest-ranking New York City fire official killed on 9/11.
"Chief," a new documentary about Feehan airing on public television stations and in-person screenings around the 20th anniversary of the attack, is part of a major new push to preserve the history of the fire department he loved.
Proceeds from ticket sales, streaming and donations are going to the Mand Library at the Fire Academy on New York City's Randalls Island. The goal of the campaign is to raise $1 million to digitize and preserve the fire department's archives, including official documents, logs, news clippings, videos, and photos.
"Chief," produced with assistance from AT&T FirstNet — the dedicated network for first responders developed in the wake of communications problems take arose on 9/11 — benefits from archival footage of Feehan's speeches and TV appearances over the years, giving viewers a window into his 42-year fire department career.
He died at age 71 in the collapse of the north tower, the second building to fall. He insisted on helping pull firefighters to safety after the earlier collapse of the south tower. In all, 343 members of the fire department were killed on 9/11.
"This was this was the biggest fire in the city's history and he had to be there, where he was meant to be," Feehan's son-in-law, firefighter Brian Davan, told The Associated Press in an interview.
"It gives great comfort to my wife and me that he died doing what he loved. And that might sound hackneyed, but it's absolutely the truth," Davan said.
Feehan held every rank in the fire department, including a three-month stint as commissioner in 1992. Colleagues said he had such intimate knowledge of the department's inner workings, he could pinpoint the last time a truck was repaired.
Feehan, the son of a firefighter, began his fire department career in 1959 after college and serving in the Army during the Korean War. In the 1970s, he fought to change the law to require sprinklers in new buildings and in the 1990s he oversaw the integration of EMS into the fire department.
SAG-AFTRA Calls For A Strike Against “League of Legends”
"League of Legends" is caught in the middle of a dispute between Hollywood's actors union and an audio company that provides voiceover services for the blockbuster online multiplayer game.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists called a strike against "League of Legends" on Tuesday, arguing that Formosa Interactive attempted to get around the ongoing video game strike by hiring non-union actors to work on an unrelated title.
Formosa tried to "cancel" the unnamed video game, which was covered by the strike, shortly after the start of the work stoppage, SAG-AFTRA said. The union said when Formosa learned it could not cancel the game, the company "secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for 'non-union' talent only." In response, the union's interactive negotiating committee voted unanimously to file an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board and to call a strike against "League of Legends" as part of that charge.
"League of Legends" is one of Formosa's most well-known projects. The company provides voiceover services for the game, according to SAG-AFTRA.
SAG-AFTRA has accused Formosa of interfering with protections that allow performers to form or join a union and prevent those performers from being discriminated against — a move the union called "egregious violations of core tenets of labor law."
Formosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "League of Legends" developer Riot Games said that the company "has nothing to do" with the union's complaint.
"We want to be clear: Since becoming a union project five years ago, 'League of Legends' has only asked Formosa to engage with union... Read More