Joseph W. Pfeifer

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Joseph W. Pfeifer (born 1955 or 1956 in New York City ) is an American former firefighter and university professor. He gained international fame after September 11, 2001 as a result of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center .

education

Pfeifer's tertiary education was initially shaped by Roman Catholicism . He graduated from the Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Queens in 1974 and then attended Cathedral College, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1978 . After graduating from Seton Hall University's Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology , he graduated with a Master of Theology in 1982 . Pfeifer himself says:

"My training before 9/11 did not equip me for what I'm doing now, for my responsibility as part of the Fire Department and my responsibility to the city of New York."

For this reason, he took advantage of numerous further training opportunities after the attacks. In September 2005 he graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School with a Master of Arts in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense) and enrolled in 2006 on the basis of a New York City Firefighters, Police, and Emergency Workers Public Service Fellowship for executive education Program "Senior Executives in State and Local Government" at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). The following year he returned to the academic institution of Harvard University and completed a mid-career Masters in Public Administration (MC / MPA) by 2008 , which he was awarded on June 5.

Life

On September 5, 1981, Pfeifer entered the service of the New York City Fire Department ( FDNY ) and has been promoted several times over the years, so that in 2001 he served as Chief of Battalion 1 in Manhattan .

The French documentary filmmakers Jules and Gédéon Naudet accompanied him and a fire brigade train on the morning of September 11, 2001 to a gas odor alarm at the intersection of Church Street and Lispenard Street, from where the group could watch American Airlines Flight 11 in the North Tower of the World Trade Center about 1.2 kilometers as the crow flies. Pfeifer was both the first chief to officially report the accident via radio and the first chief to arrive at the scene of the accident. During the day he was one of the main coordinators and persons in charge of the relief and rescue operations. His brother, who also worked as a firefighter, Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer, died at the age of 33 when the World Trade Center collapsed, from which Joseph narrowly escaped.

In the following years he held various management positions within the department hierarchy - among others he was Deputy Assistant Chief of Operations, Chief of Planning and Strategy, Deputy Assistant Chief and Assistant Chief. He elaborated new budget sets and procedural priorities, helped overhaul management practices, developed new emergency response methods, and wrote the FDNY's first strategic and counter-terrorism plan . He also created the Center for Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness, of which he was appointed Chief. As such, he is responsible for the establishment and expansion of cooperation and communication networks between the FDNY and, for example, the Ministry of Internal Security , the FBI and international partners. In addition, he conducts around 40 disaster drills in the city every year. He now teaches at the HKS himself and also gives lectures to students, schoolchildren, emergency first responders, crisis managers and victims of terrorism. He has visited Harvard University , the Chinese National School of Administration, Columbia University , the United States Military Academy , Tsinghua University , as well as the Naval War College and the United States Army War College, and has also appeared at the conference United Nations General Assembly on Combating Terrorism for the Benefit of Humanity. On September 12, 2018, Pfeifer retired.

Pfeifer and his wife Ginny, a nurse, have two children with Christine and Gregory.

Awards

  • 2007: Immaculata Award from Cathedral Preparatory Seminary

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Harvard Kennedy School in the World: Joseph Pfeifer, New York" on youtube.com ( YouTube ), accessed on May 8, 2011 (English)
  2. ↑ tape recordings of radio traffic on 11 September 2001 in New York
  3. ↑ Lewis Rice: "Raising the Alarm" in Harvard Kennedy School Magazine at hks.harvard.edu ( Harvard Kennedy School ), accessed on May 8, 2011 (English)
  4. ↑ Jim Dwyer: "The last 9/11 fire chief bows out." On July 10, 2018 on nytimes.com ( New York Times ). Retrieved November 2, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Pfeifer, Joseph W.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American firefighter and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH before 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City