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Benefit T-Shirt |
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First Impressions
Apparel Inc,
along with the
Buffalo Professional
Firefighters Association
will be donating 100% of
the profits from the
sale of the
Benefit T-Shirt to the
Families of
Fallen Hero
Firefighters:
Chip McCarthy & Jonathan
Croom. |
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Two Buffalo Firefighters Killed in Blaze
Posted:
08-24-2009
Updated: 08-25-2009 05:47:11 PM
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
Two
firefighters - one searching for a
person reported to be trapped and the
other responding to a mayday call -
plunged through the collapsed first
floor of a burning building and died
early Monday.
Rescue crews tried repeatedly to get to
the two fallen firefighters, but were
beaten back by fire and further
collapses inside the corner brick
building, Commissioner Michael Lombardo
said.
The first firefighter to fall through
the floor, Lt. Charles "Chip" McCarthy,
was a 22-year veteran of the Buffalo
Fire Department who was assigned to a
team whose members are trained to find
and free trapped victims.
He had depleted one oxygen tank, came
out to replace it and then re-entered
the building just before the accident
happened, said firefighter Vincent
Gugliuzza, vice president of Local 282,
Buffalo Professional Firefighters
Association.
He pressed a distress button on his
radio and radioed for help, saying,
"Basement, I'm in the basement," said
Daniel Cunningham, president of the
firefighters union.
Firefighter Jonathan Croom, who was
working on his scheduled day off,
responded to McCarthy's mayday call and
also fell through the collapsed floor,
Cunningham said.
Firefighters continued to search the
building Monday afternoon but had not
yet determined whether anyone else was
still inside, officials said.
The fire at the Super Speedy deli in a
working-class neighborhood on the city's
east side was reported just before 4
a.m. Flag-draped stretchers carrying the
bodies were brought out of the two-story
building shortly before 10 a.m. as
fellow firefighters, some saluting,
lined up and took off their helmets.
Weeping and distraught people believed
to be relatives had been escorted from
the scene moments earlier.
Firefighters were still pouring water on
the gutted building hours after the
blaze began. The fire's cause was under
investigation.
McCarthy was a 45-year-old married
father of three. Croom, 34, had been in
the department for 10 years and leaves
behind a fiance and the couple's
9-month-old child. He was working on
overtime on his day off to cover a
staffing shortage, Cunningham said.
The two were among the first
firefighters on the scene, Lombardo
said.
"The hearts of the Buffalo Fire
Department are broken," said Lombardo,
who knew both of the victims. "This is a
family and we lost two members of our
family today."
The last Buffalo firefighter killed in
the line of duty was 31-year-old Michael
Seguin, who died July 4, 1997, when a
roof collapsed during a house fire.
The last time more than one Buffalo
firefighter died in the line of duty was
on Dec. 27, 1983, when five firefighters
were killed in a propane tank explosion
at a warehouse - the worst loss of life
in the department's 129-year history.
"I've been on 36 years and seen every
situation happen. We still do what we
have to do," said Fire Chief John
McFeely. "It's always very, very tragic.
The guys are so close together, but
we've got a job to do. In another half
an hour, if there's another fire down
the street, we'll be there.” |
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