The Fire Department of New York announced that it would be renaming its highest honor after Peter J. Ganci, Jr., the chief of the department from Massapequa who died in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11.
The award — the James Gordon Bennett Medal — was established in 1869, and is awarded to New York City firefighters for extreme acts of valor. There have been 152 people awarded the medal in its history. It is officially being changed to the Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci, Jr. Medal
"Our highest honor for bravery to a firefighter or fire officer should be named for an individual who swore an oath to serve others and who once crawled down a hallway like all our firefighters have done to search for New Yorkers trapped by fire," Nigro said. "It should be named for a legendary chief who is still revered by all of us so many years after his death."