Brooklyn Eagle, Bay Ridge Eagle Brooklyn, NY

More than 250 people, including elected officials, family members and FDNY firefighters, came to the intersection of 77th Street and 13th Avenue on Saturday to honor fallen Firefighter Joey Graffagnino in a street co-naming ceremony. Graffagnino died while battling a fire in Manhattanâ€™s Deutsche Bank building, two days before his 34th birthday.

City Councilman Vincent Gentile, who sponsored the legislation for the street to be renamed, read the following speech:

â€œThis may be said of many young men and women whose lives are cut short by tragedy, but it rings especially true for Joey â€“ he was a good, kind man with a beautiful spirit. He was always smiling, and had a giant heart and sincere interest in everyone he met. A childhood friend of his told me stories of how Joey, as a young man, would break away from his friends while he was walking down the street to help elderly residents with their groceries. He would volunteer to shovel the driveways of his neighbors. For making himself such a lovable and giving member of his community, residents would often refer to him as the unofficial â€˜Mayor of Dyker Heights.â€™

â€œFirefighters are the true heroes of the communities they serve, so itâ€™s easy to understand why Joey, in his dedication to the Dyker Heights community, made community heroism his career. Joeyâ€™s childhood heroes worked at Engine Company 284, the â€˜Castle on the Hill,â€™ right behind Joeyâ€™s childhood home. As a boy, Joey would hop his backyard fence to visit the firefighters there; in 1999, when he joined that engine company, he would hop right over the fence in the opposite direction to get food from his parentsâ€™ refrigerator to prepare for the other firefighters.

â€œHe was a talented cook, preparing breakfast for friends in the summer as a high school student and eventually becoming a master cook at the fire house. He was a talented artist, earning an Art Degree from Hunter College. He was a talented firefighter, serving bravely alongside his FDNY brothers for eight years. He was honored with the New York City Fire Department World Trade Center Response Medal after 9/11 for his work in the immediate response efforts and recovery efforts in the aftermath of that destruction. Posthumously, in recognition of his bravery, Joey was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scopetta.

â€œJoey was, by all accounts, a man who valued the safety and happiness of his community and city. His father, Joseph Graffagnino Sr., is much the same, dedicating himself to making sure that the tragic death that befell Joey doesnâ€™t take the lives of other firefighters.

â€œJoseph Graffagnino Sr. and I have and continue to push measures such as Radio Frequency Identification that would protect firefighters as they battle fires. This technology enables firefightersâ€™ locations in buildings to be pinpointed exactly; if it is adopted, firefighters will be safer than ever before. Joeyâ€™s tragic death, coupled with his fatherâ€™s dedication, will have saved the lives of hundreds if not thousands of firefighters down the line. Joey would have been proud of his fatherâ€™s hard work and protection of his FDNY brothers.

â€œWe will all remember Joey in different ways, and for the dozens of roles he played in different peopleâ€™s lives. His mother, Rosemarie, may remember him as her best friend; his wife, Linda, may remember his as the doting husband and father who remodeled their Dyker Heights home by hand; his children will be reminded of him in the photos that fill their home, and by the stories told to them by every person in this community whose life was touched by Joey.â€