WASHINGTONVILLE – Two long rows of firefighters snapped to attention as Raymond Phillips’ flag-draped casket arrived Thursday at St. Mary’s Church.
Phillips, a retired New York City Fire Department firefighter and 9/11 responder and a past chief of the South Blooming Grove Fire Department, was laid to rest with full FDNY honors.
As his old FDNY buddy, retired Battalion Chief John Salka Jr. put it, Phillips was involved in everything. Whether it was heading to the Rockefeller Center tree-lighting, putting on a Santa suit, or rushing to an accident on Route 208, Phillips was there.
Fellow firefighters spoke of how Phillips was called to the World Trade Center on 9/11 from his Rescue 3 Company in the Bronx. He worked in the rubble of the Twin Towers for days searching for bodies.
Like so many others who worked on the pile, Phillips developed health problems after 9/11, fellow retired firefighters said.
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