CUNY Podcasts

If you’re a New York City firefighter, you have to be a better one each day you’re on the job, says Sal Cassano, Fire Department Commissioner, and a Vietnam veteran and John Jay College graduate. “Every day that you come in,” Cassano says, “you have to learn.” The commissioner, who started as a rookie firefighter in 1969, sees the demands as similar to armed forces. “You have to train, train and train, just like we did in the military,” says Cassano, who joins Veterans Corner host Pat Gualtieri to talk about his career, being a veteran, and why he loves being a firefighter.