Firefighter Falls to His Death in Brooklyn Fire

[RedGlitter]

You might wonder why I'm posting this since I don't live in NY. I just think it should be here is all. This guy was only 23! What were *we* doing at 23? Nothing this important, not me anyway. Everyone who knows me knows I cry whenever I pass a fireman. I revere them. Even if they're just in the store buying food for the station. Doesn't matter. And if they're in uniform, or in a parade, don't even expect me to try to contain myself. It can't be helped. This article upset me. I've learned not to ask so many questions but stuff like this is senseless.

By JAMES BARRON and WILLIAM NEUMAN

Published: June 22, 2007

A 23-year-old firefighter was killed in Brooklyn yesterday when he fell four stories while fighting a small blaze ignited by a cigarette that had been left on a windowsill, officials said.

Firefighter’s Fatal Fall Cut Short a Lifelong Pursuit (June 22, 2007)



New York City Fire Department

Daniel F. Pujdak







The firefighter, Daniel F. Pujdak, fell outside a four-story brick building, a onetime warehouse on the edge of Williamsburg.

He landed on the pavement amid the tangle of hoses and equipment. Stunned colleagues crowded around, and after he was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, they milled around in front of the building, their expressions grim. Before they packed up and headed back to the firehouse, some sat on the ground, their hands over their faces.

“It is a terrible loss for the entire city,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, “and it reminds us just how dangerous firefighting is.”

No one else was injured in the fire.

Firefighter Pujdak had grown up not far away, in the heart of the heavily Polish Greenpoint neighborhood. The son of a schoolteacher, he had been in the department for 19 months. He was the first to die in the line of duty in the city since August and the 1,135th killed in the Fire Department’s history.

The fire was confined to the windowsill. The white walls in the apartment showed no signs of damage from smoke, but the exterior of the building had black, sooty stains.

Witnesses said it was not immediately clear whether Firefighter Pujdak fell from the ladder or from the roof. The fire commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, said he slipped on a parapet atop the building as he was climbing down. He said Firefighter Pujdak had been the “roof man” yesterday — that is, the one assigned to carry a 40-pound saw to the roof and cut a hole to vent the fire if necessary.

Witnesses said Firefighter Pujdak appeared to lose his balance, and hit the ground on his back.

Mr. Scoppetta said that when the firefighters arrived, the blaze appeared more serious and extensive than it turned out to be. Witnesses said they saw heavy smoke pouring from the window when fire trucks took up their positions in the street.

Mr. Scoppetta said the room where the fire started was an artist’s studio. It was on the top floor of what was once an industrial building, but tenants said the structure had been illegally converted to lofts more than 10 years ago when the neighborhood began to draw younger residents.

More than 60 firefighters were sent to the building — on Meserole Street, near Leonard Street — just before 5 p.m., when a caller to 911 reported seeing smoke in a window.

That came as a surprise to some tenants. Billy Nemec, 29, a swing guitarist who was moving out of his first-floor apartment, learned of the drama upstairs when he went into the street and someone told him, “Your building’s on fire.”

“I get across the street and a window frame falls right in front of the front door, where I was just standing,” Mr. Nemec said.

Other witnesses said Firefighter Pujdak was maneuvering his way around the parapet when he fell. “It looked like he was overcome by the smoke,” said Shatiner Getty, 27, a computer student who lives a block away. “It looked like there was just too much smoke, and he lost his balance.”

Another witness, Marlene McAllister, 46, added, “He was just trying to do his job.”

The mayor met with Firefighter Pujdak’s parents, Leo and Christina Pujdak, and one of his two brothers at Bellevue Hospital. “They are devastated,” the mayor said.

Firefighter Pujdak was assigned to Ladder 146, on Richardson Street, less than a mile from where he died. The flag outside the firehouse was lowered to half-staff, and inside, firefighters mourned the loss of a colleague they considered energetic and aggressive.

Mr. Scoppetta was asked at a briefing at Bellevue whether Firefighter Pujdak had been following Fire Department procedures before he died. He said he had “seemed to be doing everything he should have done.”

“It was just a tragic accident,” he added.

Mr. Scoppetta said the fire marshals had determined that the fire was accidental and was caused by “careless smoking.” Mr. Bloomberg said the fire and “the resulting death could have been prevented.”

But it was not clear how long the cigarette had been burning before the blaze broke out, and the mayor said the fire marshals had not established whose cigarette started the blaze. A woman who would give her name only as Erin said that she lived in the apartment and that the room that caught fire belonged to a roommate who is a smoker.

But she said that she had never seen the roommate smoking in the apartment. She also said the roommate usually came home later than when the fire was reported.

Attached files