The on-duty FDNY lieutenant who was stabbed to dying in a random assault in Queens Thursday was a 24-year veteran of the division and deliberate to retire in simply six months to spend extra time along with her daughter and grandchildren.
Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, who was attacked lower than a block away from her station home, was one of many first responders at Floor Zero after the 9/11 terror assaults and “devoted her life to saving others,” her shocked colleagues stated.
The 61-year-old “was about six or seven months away from retirement,” Vincent Variale, president of Native 3621, advised reporters outdoors the hospital the place Russo-Elling succumbed to her accidents. “She was speaking about it.”
Russo-Elling labored out of Station 49 in Astoria and lived on Lengthy Island.
She joined the FDNY as an EMT in March 1998 and was promoted to paramedic in 2002 earlier than turning into a lieutenant in 2016. She labored out of quite a few EMS stations all through her profession, together with Station 20, Station 17, Station 16, Station 45, Queens Tactical Response Group and Station 49.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Russo-Elling responded to the World Commerce Middle and aided the rescue and restoration efforts of victims.
“Alison was the sweetest, kindest particular person you’ve ever met,” Variale stated, including that they spoke simply final week. “She was additionally very courageous.”
A former colleague who graduated with Russo-Elling in 1996 and had labored alongside her in Queens stated her dying was “heartbreaking.”
“It’s unhappy. It’s a horrible loss,” stated Capt. Mike Daddona of EMS Station 58 in Canarsie. “It’s not the way in which to go, not for her. She was a part of 9/11.”
He described her as somebody who deeply cared about all of the individuals she served in addition to her coworkers.
“We grew up collectively on the job,” Daddona stated. “I name it rising up on the job — you are available in as infants and also you develop up.”
He stated she would name everybody “Cookie” and was all the time smiling.
“She all the time greeted you with a smile. It doesn't matter what was occurring, she had a smile.”
Daddona stated something can occur on the job, together with coping with violent individuals.
“The issue is we by no means know when it’s going to occur,” he stated. “It could possibly be anytime, wherever. It is a prime instance of that. It’s a part of our job.”
Variale stated FDNY lieutenants like Russo-Elling do not need companions and work alone, placing them at greater danger than different first-responders.
Russo-Elling had gone to seize meals when she was stabbed in what authorities stated was a random and utterly unprovoked assault.
“She was alone… perhaps if she had a companion who noticed this man coming this might have been prevented,” he stated.
He stated the union has been pushing to have aides assigned to lieutenants for a very long time to no avail.
“Our job is a really harmful job. It’s as harmful as hearth and police. We’re assaulted simply as a lot,” Variale stated. “We lose quite a lot of members sadly, and we aren't handled the identical.”
Police took Russo-Elling’s alleged killer into custody at his close by house, the place he fled to after the assault. No fees have been introduced.
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