Chief Leader – October 20, 2015
by SARAH DORSEY
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro’s father, retired FDNY Capt. Daniel Nigro Sr., died on Oct. 11 at the age of 94.
Captain Nigro lived to see his son rise through every rank of the department, and attended the ceremony at the Randall’s Island training facility in May 2014 when he was appointed Commissioner by Mayor de Blasio.
Served in ‘War Years’
The elder Nigro joined the FDNY in 1946 and served for 35 years in Manhattan, The Bronx, and Queens. Father and son both served during the “war years” of the 1970s, when poverty, political unrest and arson fueled an unprecedented number of fires.
The elder Nigro entered the department shortly after leaving the armed forces, where he served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. He later served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
The Commissioner told this newspaper that his father never pressured him to join the FDNY, though seeing how much he and others enjoyed their firefighting jobs helped draw him toward the Academy.
“When I was born, my father was a young Firefighter,” he said in a separate statement after his appointment as Commissioner was announced. “So the Fire Department was with us at the dinner table every night.”
Capt. Nigro served at Ladder Co. 6 in Manhattan; Ladder Co. 116, Engine Co. 316 and Engine Co. 313 in Queens; and Engine Co. 60 in The Bronx. He became a Lieutenant in October 1954 and a Captain in July 1958. He is survived by two children, four grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
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