Brothers.  

Chris and Tim are the youngest of five children.  Born and raised in a suburb of Hartford , CT , a place called Newington .  During their early lives, both were enthusiastic soccer players, and both had a love for listening to the local fire departments on a scanner, and a love for chasing the local fire trucks, however possible.  Tim and Chris were fortunate enough to live close enough to NYC to occasionally pick up a “skip” of FDNY’s radio transmissions, and they were fascinated.  Fascinated to be able to sit in their home, or in their car, and listen to the words of the greatest fire department in the world, live, as it happened.  They thought it was the coolest thing.  And they were always left wanting more.  

Tim became the first to realize the dream of firefighting on Newington ’s Volunteer Fire Dept at age 18.  Chris was still too young, but always had the dream…Tim joined the town’s Volunteer Ambulance association, and worked there for years, before heading off to college.  While Tim attended the University of New Haven , he lived at the local firehouse for free in exchange for his riding the trucks.  Soon after his freshman year, Tim was offered and accepted a position on the New Britain CT Fire Department.  Tim worked here for several years until he received his letter from FDNY.  Tim started his career in the south Bronx , on 73 engine.  After 7 years of punishment there, he spent some time on 4 Truck in the Times Square section of Manhattan .  Then he achieved his life long dream of a spot in res3cue in the Bronx .  Tim did about 10 years on Rescue 3, during which he was a part of the FEMA USAR team.  He participated in their activities in Oklahoma City and the Atlanta Olympics.  He was also a part of the World Trade Center Bombings.  While still assigned to res3cue, Tim took a position in the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management (OEM).  Here he responded to major emergencies throughout the city and oversees  interagency cooperation. 

Chris left CT for RI and started college in Newport RI , hoping to work towards a career in Federal Arson Investigation.  During college, Chris made every attempt to get down to the City and ride with Tim at work.  This heightened the firefighting ‘bug’ in Chris’ blood, and soon after receiving his degree in Administration of Justice, he took the test and was hired by Providence RI Fire Dept.  While Tim was on the job with FDNY, he maintained a CT Fire Instructor’s Certification. This allowed him to be able to be a live burn instructor for his brother’s live fire training portion of the academy.    

Throughout their careers, the brothers have been able to maintain close contact and involvement with each others’ worlds.  Several years ago, FDNY was unfortunate enough have a string of line of duty deaths, and Providence had its share of close calls. Both Chris and Tim were left wanting for a way to keep tabs on the other while at work... Thus the idea for theBravest.com was born... FDNY and Providence Fire's live radio transmissions were put on the web.  This allowed Tim and Chris to listen to each other LIVE while they worked.  For several years, this provided peace of mind for the brothers, then the unthinkable happened...

Click here to read about Tim and Chris' experiences on 9/11/01.

The summer following 9/11/01, Tim and Chris were called to Washington DC to assist in the establishment of the Office of Public Health and Emergency Preparedness in the US Dept of Health and Human Services under Secretary Tommy Thompson.  After completing several tasks there, Chris returned to his children and his job in RI.  Tim remained on with OPHEP.  

In April of 2003, Rhode Island was hit with the worst loss of life as the result of the most tragic fire in its history, the Station Nightclub Fire in West Warwick RI .  As the immensity of that tragedy became realized, the Governor of that state appealed to the Federal Gov't for assistance.  The Feds responded by dispatching one of their DMORT (Disaster Mortuary) teams.  This great tragedy would again, bring the Brown brothers together.  The DMORT teams fell under the office that Tim worked in.  Tim was dispatched to Rhode Island as the team's liaison to Secretary Tommy Thompson.    

While conducting business in RI, Tim dealt directly with the Governor of the State of RI .  As a result of his operations during that tragedy in RI, Tim was asked to stay on as the Governor's Senior Advisor for Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Tim successfully served the State of Rhode Island for over a year on this detail from FDNY, and has since gone back to NYC.    

Tim retired from FDNY in July of 2005, after 20 years of esteemed service, living out a firefighter’s fairy tale career, South Bronx , Midtown Manhattan, Res3cue, OEM, detail to the Federal Gov’t, etc…

Chris is still working on the job in Providence , RI .  He's assigned to Prov. Fire's Special Hazards Truck.  It's the equivalent of FDNY's heavy rescue.  And he’s loving every minute of it.   

Not to long ago, Chris and Tim came together and decided to reach out to all brother and sister firefighters again.  They realized that the biggest names in online retail FDNY sales for firefighters, weren’t actually firefighters themselves, at all.  theBravest.com understands that firefighters can best be served by brother firefighters, and who better than Chris and Tim.  

So the next chapter begins,

A bond of brothers, real brothers

Tim and Chris thoroughly enjoy  listening to what they have created.  

They are still amazed, as they sit in the lobby of a hotel in Miami , Indianapolis , Sacramento or Antigua and listen to the voices of the proud members of FDNY.   

They often comment how happy they are that they have enabled people, literally, from all over the world to be able to take part in what was once one of the most fascinating parts of their childhood.  

theBravest.com is proud to be able to offer to their listeners the realization and reality of what was once merely a boyhood dream:

FDNY LIVE as it happens

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

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