[1] William Feehan was born September 29, 1929, in Long Island City, Queens, and grew up in Jackson Heights.

[citation needed] After incoming Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani picked Howard Safir to become Fire Commissioner of the City of New York, Feehan returned to his previous position of First Deputy Fire Commissioner of the City of New York.

Although high-ranking members of the FDNY and other city departments ordinarily are asked to step aside for incoming mayors to make their own appointments, according to an FDNY spokesman, this was not requested of Feehan, because he was so knowledgeable that he "was thought to know the location of every fire hydrant in the city."

[3] Tom Junod, writing in Esquire magazine, wrote that surviving first responders remember Feehan admonishing a bystander who was recording individuals jumping from the building's windows, asking them "Don't you have any human decency?

[6][7] The vessel is a fast response fireboat, capable of pumping 8,000 gallons per minute, with a top speed of 40 knots (74 km/h).