by ETHAN ROUEN
A dedicated fightfighter and a fearless police officer who grew up around the corner from each other and perished while rescuing people from the burning World Trade Center will be honored in a public memorial devoted to their roots and their heroism. Firefighter Vincent Princiotta and Police Officer John D'Allara played as youngsters on the corner of Bronxwood and Allerton Aves. This Saturday at 11 a.m., street signs on the corner will be installed bearing their names. "This is a way for me to recover, to get the story out about what he did," said Dan D'Allara, John's twin brother. "The community coming together like this, it's a wonderful thing." The sign with D'Allara's name will point east on Allerton toward his childhood home. Princiotta's sign will point south on Bronxwood, where he grew up. "They both really put their lives on the line," said City Councilman James Vacca, who sponsored the bill for the street-naming. "This is going to be memorializing their sacrifice." The heroes' families have known one another for 40 years, and the street-naming idea came about when Dan D'Allara and Princiotta's sister, Bernadette Princiotta, talked during a reunion at the grade school they all attended, St. Lucy's. Vincent Princiotta, whose daughter is now 6, was 39 when he died. He started with the FDNY with Engine Co. 16 on Manhattan's East Side, and transferred to Ladder 7 in the same firehouse because "it's more exciting. You go into the buildings and there's more action," his sister recalls him saying. Princiotta was an avid surfer, frequenting Gilgo Beach on Long Island. D'Allara, who was 47 when the World Trade Center collapsed, sought a different kind of rush. A former professional bodybuilder and father of two young sons, D'Allara - whose 9/11 heroism is detailed in Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn's book "102 Minutes" - loved police work as much as he loved coaching kids' athletics. He joined the NYPD in 1983 and became a member of the Emergency Service Unit, becoming expert at using the department's remote-controlled robots to deal with suspected bombs.
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