Joliet firefighter honored on 9/11 with surprise tribute

Acey Longley returned to Joliet on Wednesday to honor Joliet firefighters one more time on Sept. 11.

Longley is the son of Ty Longley, a guitarist who lost his life in a Rhode Island fire known as The Station nightclub fire that claimed 100 lives.

Only 21, Acey Longley was still waiting to be born when his father died in the 2003 fire.

But the death of his father and a devotion to to the deeds of firefighters after the terrorist attacks in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, inspired Longley in his childhood to honor Joliet firefighters.

He began bringing pizza and soda to Joliet firefighters at the age of 8 every Sept. 11 for several years until his family moved away in 2018.

“I felt like firefighters were definitely a different type of person, and I admired them for that.”

—  Acey Longley

Longley and his mother Heidi returned to Joliet on Wednesday for another pizza luncheon in honor of Joliet Battalion Chief Jim Blake, whom Acey regards as his mentor.

Now a volunteer firefighter himself in Kentucky, Longley described Blake as “my hero friend” when he returned to Joliet on Wednesday.

Blake is retiring in November. Longley said he could not let this Sept. 11 pass without a pizza lunch to honor his mentor.

“I told my mom I have to throw him one last pizza party,” Longley said.

Longley was joined by his mother Heidi, who always helped him throw pizza parties when they lived in a Joliet house where the backyard bordered Joliet Fire Department Station Number 9.

He recounted sitting in his bedroom watching Joliet firefighters train and telling his mom that they could watch real heroes from their own backyard.

“I felt like firefighters were definitely a different type of person, and I admired them for that,” Longley said.

The party was a surprise for Blake, who entered the training room at Joliet Fire Station 1 and upon seeing balloons and the spread laid out for him uttered, “Aw, you’re kidding me.”

Blake assumed it was an early retirement party until Acey entered the room wearing the battered fire gear from his current job as a volunteer with the Alvaton Fire Department in Kentucky.

“You look good,” Blake remarked. “You’re all dirty and everything.”

Blake in his own remarks at the pizza lunch commented on the impact of Sept. 11 on him as he saw events unfold. He noted that at the time there was a belief that a terrorist attack might be made in Chicago.

Blake said he braced himself for the possibility of being sent into the city for rescue efforts that could parallel what occurred in New York where firefighters lost their lives trying to save people at the World Trade Center.

“My thought was, ‘If we’re going up there, we’re going up there, and we’re going to do what we need to do,’” Blake said, choking up at times as he remembered the day.

Commenting on Longley’s pursuit of a firefighting career, Blake said, “That kid has the heart to do it. Firefighting is a job that either you love it or you hate it.”

So far, Acey Longley appears to love it.

He talked about how his own father lost his life and what he heard from people at The Station fire who said Ty Longley helped them survive the blaze.

“He was not a firefighter,” Longley said. “But he had the heart of a firefighter because he gave his life to save their lives.”

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