Longtime FDNY Battalion Chief Chris Scalone dies

Chris Scalone, of Port Jefferson Station, was one of FDNY’s longest-serving battalion chiefs, a department leader who never wanted to retire because the firefighters were his “brotherhood.”

“He cared about their hearts, about if they were upset about something at home,” said his wife, Vikki Scalone. “He was like the papa bear to the other firemen. He was proud of the fact that he never lost a man.”

A stickler for safety and training, Scalone, who was 65 when he died in November, had his final assignment in the 53rd battalion of about 200 firefighters in northeast Queens, one of the largest citywide geographically. With 21 years as battalion chief at fire scenes, Scalone could juggle scenarios in his head and make the calIs that kept his crew safe, family and friends said. He knew about the lives of battalion members, encouraged newbies and brought back striped bass he caught to be cooked and shared.

It was a bittersweet day in September when he turned 65 and aged out of his job after 43 years, having worked in several Brooklyn and Queens stations for the FDNY.

Scalone died on Nov. 13 of 9/11-related esophageal cancer, an illness he thought he would beat when it was diagnosed in April.

“On 9/11, I was a captain who lost six guys. I’ve lost two or three other friends in fires and they all hurt, but this hurts just a little bit more — after 43 years, not getting a happy day of retirement,” said friend Larry Blieka, a retired battalion chief who had worked with Scalone.

“He lived his life the way he wanted to live,” Blieka said. “The firehouse was his happy place, the guys that he worked with, the sense that he was making a difference.”

If someone needed help, Scalone dropped everything, rescuing friends on conked-out boats in the ocean or fixing a broken home appliance, often aided by YouTube videos, family and friends said.

“Without asking you, he’d be the first one to come over with a tool set,” said Chris Wroblewski, a friend since childhood. “He would Google everything. He would try different scenarios. He was that type — a helpful fireman, always wanting to help.”

But there was one thing he couldn’t fix, and he never recovered from it, his wife said. Their only child, Tiffany, was 18 in 2008 when she succumbed to a birth condition, pulmonary hypertension, which affects the lungs’ blood vessels and the heart.

“She was the light of his life,” Vikki Scalone said. “That probably broke him the most. Being the type of person he was, he’s got to take care of everybody. He kind of felt like he let her down … but it was obviously beyond what we could do.”

It was the same when Chris Scalone's dog, Blaze, died two years after his daughter. He had trained the black Labrador to do so many things, from getting the newspaper to picking up the phone.

“People would say, ‘Oh, my God, that dog’s like a person,’ ” Vikki Scalone said. “When this dog died, he just vowed he would never get another dog. That, I think in his mind, was how he honored Blaze.”

She and Chris met on a double date when he was a fire department probationer, impressing her with his gentlemanly ways and his full attention. For decades, they boated and fished together in the ocean, another of Chris’ happy places, she said. They had planned to continue these pursuits and travel the world after he retired.

“Whatever it was I needed, he took care of it,” Vikki Scalone said. “We used to like to sit and watch movies at night. We used to shut the lights out in the foyer and slow dance to music. We would slow dance to Elvis’ song ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.’ ”

Along with his wife, Chris Scalone is survived by his mother, Dorothy Scalone of Suffolk County, and a sister, Deb McLaughlin of Holtsville.

A funeral service was held Nov. 18, followed by burial at Washington Memorial Park in Mount Sinai. Donations can be made to FDNY Foundation’s family assistance unit and the American Cancer Society.