Fallen Baltimore FF Remembered as NJ 'Firehouse Kid'

Funeral services for Lt. Dillon J. Rinaldo will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 3 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Visitation will be held from 2-4 and 6-8 Wednesday and Thursday at Duda Ruck Funeral Home in Dundalk

When Amir Saadah heard that the kid he coached a decade ago had been hurt while trying to render aid to his colleague during a Northwest Baltimore blaze, he wasn’t surprised.

The football coach hadn’t picked 16-year-old Dillon J. Rinaldo to lead Fair Lawn High School’s varsity team because of any physical feats. It wasn’t the teenage Rinaldo’s practice attendance record, either. The junior firefighter often called out from football due to his responsibilities at the North Jersey borough’s fire department, where he volunteered alongside his father.

Saadah, the team’s head coach, and his assistants had swiftly picked the young student-athlete because he was a leader.

Rinaldo was always going to help his teammates. He was always poised and stoic, keeping his cool and staying humble while taking charge. The high school’s administration loved Rinaldo, who also played varsity lacrosse and was a standout student in addition to his football and firefighting commitments.

“We knew right away that he was the guy,” Saadah said Wednesday, hours after Baltimore officials announced that Rinaldo, 26, had died from the injuries he sustained during an Oct. 19 blaze in the 5200 block of Linden Heights Avenue in Woodmere. The fire department said the lieutenant was hurt while rendering aid to Rodney W. Pitts III, a new firefighter who died that night after being hurt in the two-alarm blaze that consumed four rowhouses.

“That’s exactly who he was,” Saadah said.

Scott Leathem, who coached lacrosse at Fair Lawn High during Rinaldo’s tenure, said the teen player helped reestablish that team.

“He was able to help my younger players envision our goal, and he worked hard for it, no matter that challenge ahead,” Leathem said in an email to The Baltimore Sun, also saying Fair Lawn had lost a “great one,” who was a “legend” in his book.

The school’s athletic director of 20 years, Cory Robinson, said a student like Rinaldo was “rare.” He described the young Rinaldo as a “hardworking, respectful, mild-mannered student-athlete who led by example.”

“Firefighters are our superheroes and we don’t expect to ever lose them,” Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby said in a statement after Rinaldo’s death, noting the city’s fire department was already facing “unbearable pain” from Pitts’ death, a wound that was “cut deeper” with Rinaldo’s death.

The North Jersey borough, where residents said Rinaldo’s family is highly regarded, is suffering too. The community held a prayer vigil while Rinaldo was in the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center with serious injuries from his burns. At the Cutters’ final home football game Thursday, Fair Lawn’s fire and rescue departments held a “boot drive,” stuffing a firefighting boot with donations, to benefit Rinaldo’s family.

The borough’s fire department, where Rinaldo’s father was once chief and currently serves as deputy chief, is feeling the loss.

“The older members remember Dillon growing up as a firehouse kid,” the department’s current chief, Jacob Mamo, posted on Facebook on Wednesday. Rinaldo joined the volunteer department as a teenager, though he made his ambitions to live the career firefighter lifestyle clear, his football coach said.

Six years ago, Rinaldo reached that goal and started in the Baltimore Fire Department. Last year, he became a lieutenant.

“Lt. Dillon J. Rinaldo, and the ultimate sacrifice that he made is the truest definition of heroism,” the department wrote in a Facebook post. “We mourn the loss of our brother, our friend, and our member of Engine Company #46.”

Rinaldo was treated at Bayview for burns. Gov. Wes Moore and Mayor Brandon Scott visited Rinaldo while he was in the hospital.

“His willingness to put others before himself, to try to protect his fellow firefighters and every resident, is a testament to his character and unwavering commitment to this work,” Scott said in a statement Wednesday, calling Rinaldo a “true hero.”

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