It is going to be a very long day in Lower Chichester.
And it is our job to chronicle it.
We will join those gathering to honor the memory of Lower Chichester firefighter Nicholas Picozzi II. He died in the line of duty battling a house fire last Tuesday.
It is not something we especially enjoy. There is not one person on our staff who wants such an assignment, who would rather cover almost anything else.
We deal with police and firefighters every day. We don’t always find ourselves on the same page. This is not one of those days.
Our mission today is not to be an intrusion, not to trample on a family’s agony, not to smear the incredible loss suffered by a dedicated band of community servants.
Our hope is to simply convey to the community, in some small measure, what Nicholas Picozzi meant to the town he called home. And to the men and women he served with as a volunteer firefighter.
We will try to do so with dignity, with honesty, with words and pictures.
We started this process in the moments we first received word of the fire on Moser Avenue in Upper Chichester, and the initial reports that there could be several firefighters injured. It continued yesterday, as mourners gathered for Nick Picozzi’s viewing.
One of the things we have attempted to convey in our coverage is how much Picozzi meant to those who knew and loved him, and the huge vacuum his absence now leaves.
That process concludes today, with a requiem for a firefighter. It’s going to be a gut-punch kind of a day.
For all those involved.
Rest well, lieutenant.
And it is our job to chronicle it.
We will join those gathering to honor the memory of Lower Chichester firefighter Nicholas Picozzi II. He died in the line of duty battling a house fire last Tuesday.
It is not something we especially enjoy. There is not one person on our staff who wants such an assignment, who would rather cover almost anything else.
We deal with police and firefighters every day. We don’t always find ourselves on the same page. This is not one of those days.
Our mission today is not to be an intrusion, not to trample on a family’s agony, not to smear the incredible loss suffered by a dedicated band of community servants.
Our hope is to simply convey to the community, in some small measure, what Nicholas Picozzi meant to the town he called home. And to the men and women he served with as a volunteer firefighter.
We will try to do so with dignity, with honesty, with words and pictures.
We started this process in the moments we first received word of the fire on Moser Avenue in Upper Chichester, and the initial reports that there could be several firefighters injured. It continued yesterday, as mourners gathered for Nick Picozzi’s viewing.
One of the things we have attempted to convey in our coverage is how much Picozzi meant to those who knew and loved him, and the huge vacuum his absence now leaves.
That process concludes today, with a requiem for a firefighter. It’s going to be a gut-punch kind of a day.
For all those involved.
Rest well, lieutenant.
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