Nicholas J. DeMasi (d. 2015) was a firefighter stationed at Engine Company 261 in Long Island City when the company responded during the 9/11 attacks, afterward he spent months working on the cleanup of Ground Zero at the “Pile”. When Engine Company 261 closed, he went to Engine Company 259, on Greenpoint Avenue in Long Island City. He retired in 2004 and owned the bar Scissors on Steinway Street, later renamed Nickelodeon. He died of a 9/11-related cancer in 2015.
Gil Tauber, "NYC Honorary Street Names," accessed June 15, 2022, http://www.nycstreets.info/