by BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
PUTNAM VALLEY - New York City firefighters were called into action this week in Putnam County.
Their task wasn't a fire, but major yardwork at an injured colleague's Putnam Valley house.
Gary Jacobson, 39, had begun an industrious landscaping project for his family - his pregnant wife, Melanie, and two sons, 2 and 4 years old. But after tumbling from a two-story frame house during a fire in Queens last week, he couldn't possibly expect to finish raking and regrading anytime soon. Recovering from a serious head injury, as well as a collapsed lung, shattered wrist and broken ribs, became more essential.
Jacobson arrived home Wednesday from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City to see the level, manicured yard he had envisioned.
After nearly eight hours of sweat and toil by 30 of the city's bravest Tuesday, the land had been cleaned, there was a proper stone border, and new soil, grass seed and hay had been put down. A children's play set, paid for by donations from friends and a reduced price from Eastern Jungle Gym in Carmel, topped it all off.
"I can't believe everyone has done all this," said Melanie Jacobson, her words catching in her throat. "It has been quite an emotional time - scary and inspiring."
Her husband's FDNY colleagues living in Queens, Long Island and some from Putnam County gave up a day off to do Jacobson's yardwork. Many didn't even know him, but still rolled up their sleeves.
"When we realized how much there was to do and the shape he was in, we knew we had to help. We spread the word through the firehouses, got it on the board, and the rest just happened," said Jennifer Matteo, a neighbor, whose husband, Jon, is a firefighter comrade of Jacobson's.
She helped organize the work and feed the volunteers.
"It was a sight to see all these guys out there. It was wonderful. I was teary-eyed all day," said Jennifer Matteo, whose two children are the same age as the Jacobsons'. The two men met when they worked at different firehouses in the Bronx.
Jon Matteo said helping co-workers is part of their creed.
"When someone is hurt, when a family needs us, we pull together. That's the brotherhood," he said.
Gary Jacobson, an 11-year department veteran, is a lieutenant at Ladder 144 in Queens. On Sept. 20, he responded to a working fire at 128th Street in his College Point district. It was a team effort to battle the extremely heavy fire, which needed assistance from 168 firefighters. It resulted in injures to 11 firefighters and four civilians, a department spokesman said.
The fire department brotherhood seems to have extended to town residents as well.
Putnam Valley neighbor Ann Marie Dring of ASA Stone & Mason Supply in Shrub Oak, who said she doesn't even know the family very well, said when she and her husband heard about the unfinished yardwork, they donated topsoil, hay and supplies.
"We lost our own house to a fire three years ago," said Dring. "My heart went out to them.
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