Peter Raiskio, FF/EMT - Barnstable, Massachusetts

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On his 16th birthday, Peter Raiskio applied to become a call firefighter in Barnstable village and dedicated the next 40 years of his life to being a good firefighter.
That’s why, this Monday morning, he was remembered as a great one.
“They are not dead, those who leave us this heritage of great joy,” the Rev. Phil R. Jackson, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Yarmouth Port, told the hundreds who packed the church to pay their final respects to Raiskio, Yarmouth’s deputy fire chief, who died at 56 Feb. 14 after a battle with lung cancer.
Raiskio’s widow, Joyce, and the couple’s two sons, Kai and Eric, sat in the center of the church surrounded by family and loved ones. In turn, that group was surrounded by firefighters in full dress uniform who filled the pews and lined the walls of the stately church.
Jim Ellis, Raiskio’s nephew, thanked everyone for their support but singled out the efforts of Yarmouth firefighters on behalf of the grieving family.
“No matter which way we were going to fall, they were there to catch us,” Ellis said.
Yarmouth Fire Chief C. Randall Sherman remembered a friend with a wonderfully dry sense of humor, one who began a job interview for deputy chief by “protesting” that one of his interviewers, Yarmouth Police Chief Peter Carnes, was armed.
But Sherman also recalled a dedicated firefighter who considered the men and women he worked with a second family and a man who believed in the power of education. Raiskio, the chief said, was one of the state’s first firefighters to receive EMT training and the first Yarmouth firefighter to serve as a full-time fire inspector. In addition, he served as president of the Cape Cod Fire Prevention Association, was an instructor at the Barnstable County Fire Academy and instituted a Work to Learn internship program with students at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.
“The town of Yarmouth is a safer place because of him,” Sherman said. “Cape Cod is a safer place because of him.”
The chief also noted Raiskio’s years of commitment to the Boy Scouts and said that an honor guard of scouts stood alongside a YFD honor guard at Raiskio’s wake.
Born and raised in Barnstable village, Raiskio graduated from Barnstable High School in 1968. Like his father and grandfather before him, Raiskio served as a call firefighter in Barnstable village before becoming a full-time firefighter in Yarmouth in 1972. He also served several years in the Army National Guard.
Raiskio’s son, Kai, is also a Yarmouth firefighter.
Sherman said Raiskio didn’t have an easy time of it growing up but didn’t really speak of it until later in his life. He also never let any earlier difficulties get in the way of helping his family, his friends or his community.
“He didn’t make excuses,” said Sherman. “He just made a difference.”

Feb 22, 2007, 12:02

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