LIVORNO. In 1979, at the age of 16, he won the Italian judo championship. And his life put him at a crossroads: “With a signature we enlist you in the sports group of the finance police or in that of the carabinieri”. But he chose the third way, the unexpected and riskier one: the competition to enter the fire brigade. Which he brilliantly overcame. Today, 37 years later, the wrestler from Livorno Luca Aiello retires. After having brought, among other things, his martial arts to the firefighters of Livorno, with his “Kodokan” gym in viale Petrarca which has become affiliated, and will continue to be so even with his leave, to the barracks in via Campania. «I’m happy, but at the same time sorry – he says – because I loved my job. Colleagues were fantastic, given that they gave me no less than three greetings».
It was 1986 when Aiello began his professional career. He does it in Alessandria, in Piedmont, where he stays for two years. Then, for seven years, his house became the provincial command of Pisa. Galileo Galilei airport, where there is a fire station, for two. As many in Saline di Volterra, in the detachment. Then to the Operations Center. And as soon as the opportunity to get closer to home presents itself, he jumps at it. Not immediately, because initially the firefighter goes to do it even further away, even in his own province: in Portoferraio, on the island of Elba, where he lives for a few months. Then Cecina and finally Livorno, where two days ago he retired as provincial shift manager. A career of hard work, which he accompanied as president of the “Kodokan”, the judo school which he presides over and which he continues to carry on, also in his affiliation with the firefighters’ sports group. Many boys have achieved important successes, one above all the eighteen-year-old Davide Bragagni from Livorno, who has risen in the national rankings. «We have achieved excellent results at a competitive level – he comments – and many calls-ups at a national level. Naturally, even if I retire, I won’t leave the association. I will stay here to work. It’s a wonderful group, with three-year-old children and 70-year-olds. Bragagni is strong, to think that he trains and this summer he worked as a lifeguard. His dedication is commendable, he is truly a good “boy” ».
Countless experiences, with firefighters, that Aiello has undertaken over the decades. Some, unfortunately, terrifying. «In 1998, when there was a flood in Sarno – he says – we were sent to Campania to help the population and our colleagues already there. A 15-year-old boy was missing. He unfortunately he was in an area where no one would have imagined that he was him, under a road where we all passed. We were with the search dogs, but they signal the presence of people alive, not dead. In that case, unfortunately, he was long dead. It was the animal that noticed something, then unfortunately we made the tragic discovery. The remains of the houses, such as the refrigerators, were anything but…». A few years later, after the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, «we found the bodies of mother and daughter who unfortunately had remained imprisoned in a garage. They were going to get the car and sadly they didn’t make it to survive. In finding them, we discovered the body of another adult among the pillars of the building which had collapsed due to the extremely violent earthquake. In 37 years, unfortunately, you also see things you should never see».
Aiello was also called to deal with other emergencies, such as the Costa Concordia disaster at Giglio. “That was the last one I faced together with my colleagues from the Livorno command – he says – but we arrived much later, not immediately”. He hasn’t regretted having chosen the firefighters, risking the competition: «It was the job I wanted to do, I wanted nothing else – he concludes – My brother Alessandro, who is ten years older than me and retired in 2013, was the chief of divers. While my grandfather Cato Politi was a firefighter in the “municipal” laurels, that’s what they were called».
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2023-09-02 08:54:36
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