9/11 hero, 45, dies of cancer
SAM The NYC Half Marathon today, will close major streets in Brooklyn and Manhattan from 6 a.m. to about 1 p.m. Flatbush Ave. will be closed first from Empire Blvd. to the Manhattan Bridge (probable reopening after 10 a.m.). Then it’s across the upper level of the Manhattan Bridge to Canal Street East. From there, runners will snake their way around Lower East Side streets to the FDR northbound at Houston St. to 42nd St. to 7th Ave. to Central Park. Go west young man or woman if you’re driving in Manhattan.
From noon to 4 p.m. today the Brooklyn Irish American Parade runs along Prospect Park West from Ninth to 15th Sts., to Seventh Ave., to Garfield Pl., back to PPW.
The Hutch is closed both ways between I-95 and Cross County until 5 a.m. tomorrow. Follow detour signs.
In the Bronx, one northbound lane on the Major Deegan, between 154th St. and the Macombs Dam Bridge, remains closed until 3 p.m. Friday (originally Wednesday).
The Riders Alliance will be outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office on Third Ave. near 41st St. Tuesday at 6 p.m. calling on him to fix the subways and pass congestion pricing. March for Our Lives will be rallying on Saturday. Check Friday’s paper for details. I live on the Eastside and we are not allowed to leave our car and double park CITY FIREFIGHTER Thomas Phelan, an unsung hero of 9/11 who evacuated hundreds of people from Lower Manhattan while working as a ferry captain, has died. He was 45. Phelan died Friday of cancer. His illness was believed to be related to his exposure to the toxic fumes swirling around Ground Zero, officials and friends said.
He was working as a Statue of Liberty ferry captain when terrorists slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center, stranding thousands of people.
Phelan turned his tour boat into a rescue vessel and played a key role in what’s been described as the largest evacuation in city history.
“He brought supplies, rescue workers & was a huge part of the operation,” according to the NYC Fire Wire Facebook page. RUSSIA ON Saturday announced it is expelling 23 British diplomats and threatened further measures in retaliation in a growing diplomatic dispute over a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also said it’s ordering the closure of the British Council, a government organization for cultural and scientific cooperation, and ending an agreement to reopen the British Consulate in St. Petersburg.
The order comes after Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the poisoning case.
He went on to join the FDNY in May 2003.
Phelan was assigned to Engine Co. 55, but was later promoted to marine patrol and transferred to Marine 9 in Staten Island.
He was credited with one save during his career, officials said.
“I’m so sad! A true hero and gentleman,” Maura Buckley wrote on Facebook.
“He would help anyone and everyone any chance he could. I just can’t believe this and honestly don’t understand why it’s always the good ones we lose way to early.”
Paul Iannizzotto wrote that he worked with Phelan at Engine 55.
“Always a stand up guy, always doing the right thing, and will be sorely missed,” he added on Facebook. “Rest easy brother.”
Edward Fahey said Phelan was a master mariner. “I was just talking to my old man and he said even at a young age you were the best boat captain he had ever seen,” Fahey wrote.