04/13/2026
This painting has hung in the training room long before many current members have started. We have walked past not knowing the story behind it, until today, we got to meet the artist. FDNY professional firefighter Ciro Napolitano illustrated this painting of his true love, his family. The painting is called “Freedom from Terror” - shows an exhausted firefighter, at home on the evening of Sept. 12, one day after 343 FDNY members were killed at the World Trade Center. In the painting, the firefighter watches as his wife puts their four small daughters to bed. Leaning against a dresser, still wearing boots, pants and a helmet, he holds a Daily News from that day with a red headline, “It’s War.” The painting is closely inspired by Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Fear” – a near-identical scene painted after the attack on Pearl Harbor in tribute to America’s families and freedoms. Napolitano has made 500 prints and one proudly hangs in the Howland Fire Department as a piece of history we can never forget. We want to thank Ciro Napolitano for visiting us and taking the time to talk with us, we really never knew what we had hanging up until today.
