Multiple accounts from survivors credit McCaffery's organization of their evacuation with saving hundreds of lives. Repeatedly noted was McCaffery's “calm, in-control” demeanor and a sense he conveyed that “the situation was in hand.” More than one survivor spoke of McCaffery's smile. “He didn't say anything,” said Baz Woods, a law firm clerk. “But he made me feel like things weren't so bad. Like someone was in charge.”

“That was definitely Jimmy,” Thomas Molloy, a prominent Staten Island businessman, childhood friend of McCaffery's, and founder of the McCaffery Memorial Fund, told the Tribune. “You always knew Jimmy could take care of things.”

James McCaffery grew up in the Pleasant Hills neighborhood of Staten Island. He left over two decades ago but is still regarded as a local hero.

“Oh, no question,” said Father Dennis Connor, pastor of St. Ann's Church in Pleasant Hills. “Through all these years, we'd read in the papers about him, some brave thing he'd done, and we'd all be thinking, that's our Jimmy.”

James McCaffery always wanted to be a firefighter. “He had a red plastic helmet someone gave him when he was three,” said Mr. Molloy's ex-wife, Victoria. “He wore it all the time. When it got too small, he still kept squashing it on. His father had to buy him another one.”

McCaffery is remembered as a quiet boy who captained the varsity baseball team at Dwight D. Eisenhower High School. “Jimmy never talked much,” said Mike Pidhirny, retired head coach. “I never remember him riding anyone. It all went into his game. Jimmy expected a lot from himself, and he made the other guys want to give as much as he did. We made the play-offs every season he played. We won two division titles.”

McCaffery entered the FDNY Academy in 1976 at the age of 21. His first assignment was to Engine 168, in Pleasant Hills.