|
|
|
Eight seconds.
That’s how long New York City firefighter Eugene Stolowski said it took for a deadly apartment fire to get out of control and cause six firefighters to jump from several fourth-story windows.
Two of the men died and the others were seriously injured. Stolowski shattered both legs and his pelvis and in his own words, “dislocated my head from my body.”
“I died in the backyard,” he said Saturday at Ilion High School during a presentation on the 2005 Bronx fire known as “Black Sunday.”
But, fellow firefighters at the scene performed emergency medical procedures and saved his and the three other injured men’s lives.
Instead of “just laying back and dying” after the traumatic fire and many months in rehab and the hospital, Stolowski said he decided to share the events of that fateful day with other fire departments across the country to hopefully help prevent future disasters.
Ilion Fire Department Deputy Chief Robert Paddock asked Stolowski to give the presentation after meeting him during a training session.
“I saw him talk about the dangers of what can go wrong with a fire,” Paddock said. “How fires can seem very routine, but how things can get out of control very quickly,” he added.
The presentation Saturday showed a step-by-step progression from responding to a call all the way up to when flames and intense heat forced firefighters into a decision to leap from 50 feet onto concrete.
Stolowski described a rather casual process of checking the floor above the fire.
After performing standard procedures, mainly searching for residents and ventilating windows, several tragic circumstances slowly began unfolding.
Since the building was illegally subdivided into room-size apartments, undisclosed walls blocked off normal avenues for fire to flow to windows.
Smoke and heat began intensifying. And still, “This wasn’t worst job I was ever on,” Stolowski admitted thinking.
He then warned he may have been guilty of “getting a little complacent.”
“It goes from a sunny day on the beach to a trap door opens and now you’re in hell,” Stolowski said.
During a recording of the day’s transmissions between firefighters, a report of a slight extension is heard.
This report usually means another water line may be needed eventually on the floor above a fire, Stolowski explained.
However on Black Sunday, roughly eight seconds after the seemingly mild update, the firefighters got trapped by fast-moving and funneling flames.
“It happened so fast,” he added.
The heat got so intense so quickly there was little time to react. The men were physically forced to the windows, and Stolowski said it was far from their choice.
“You want to get away from that heat,” he said, referring to reasoning behind jumping from high heights in emergency situations. “You know you’re going to die…but even bring a lighter towards you, and you’re going to move right away.”
Later after visiting the building, friends showed him the fire got so hot it melted a mirror off the bathroom wall.
Stolowski said thanks to his fellow firefighters he was able to survive the day and share the story with emergency personnel from Ilion and several neighboring departments gathered Saturday.
Speaking with firefighters that suffered injuries in the line of duty has given Stolowski a chance to spread a message he has come to live by: “Don’t give up, you’re still here for some reason.”
Eight seconds.
That’s how long New York City firefighter Eugene Stolowski said it took for a deadly apartment fire to get out of control and cause six firefighters to jump from several fourth-story windows.
Two of the men died and the others were seriously injured. Stolowski shattered both legs and his pelvis and in his own words, “dislocated my head from my body.”
“I died in the backyard,” he said Saturday at Ilion High School during a presentation on the 2005 Bronx fire known as “Black Sunday.”
But, fellow firefighters at the scene performed emergency medical procedures and saved his and the three other injured men’s lives.
Instead of “just laying back and dying” after the traumatic fire and many months in rehab and the hospital, Stolowski said he decided to share the events of that fateful day with other fire departments across the country to hopefully help prevent future disasters.
Ilion Fire Department Deputy Chief Robert Paddock asked Stolowski to give the presentation after meeting him during a training session.
“I saw him talk about the dangers of what can go wrong with a fire,” Paddock said. “How fires can seem very routine, but how things can get out of control very quickly,” he added.
The presentation Saturday showed a step-by-step progression from responding to a call all the way up to when flames and intense heat forced firefighters into a decision to leap from 50 feet onto concrete.
Stolowski described a rather casual process of checking the floor above the fire.
After performing standard procedures, mainly searching for residents and ventilating windows, several tragic circumstances slowly began unfolding.
Since the building was illegally subdivided into room-size apartments, undisclosed walls blocked off normal avenues for fire to flow to windows.
Smoke and heat began intensifying. And still, “This wasn’t worst job I was ever on,” Stolowski admitted thinking.
He then warned he may have been guilty of “getting a little complacent.”
“It goes from a sunny day on the beach to a trap door opens and now you’re in hell,” Stolowski said.
During a recording of the day’s transmissions between firefighters, a report of a slight extension is heard.
This report usually means another water line may be needed eventually on the floor above a fire, Stolowski explained.
However on Black Sunday, roughly eight seconds after the seemingly mild update, the firefighters got trapped by fast-moving and funneling flames.
“It happened so fast,” he added.
The heat got so intense so quickly there was little time to react. The men were physically forced to the windows, and Stolowski said it was far from their choice.
“You want to get away from that heat,” he said, referring to reasoning behind jumping from high heights in emergency situations. “You know you’re going to die…but even bring a lighter towards you, and you’re going to move right away.”
Later after visiting the building, friends showed him the fire got so hot it melted a mirror off the bathroom wall.
Stolowski said thanks to his fellow firefighters he was able to survive the day and share the story with emergency personnel from Ilion and several neighboring departments gathered Saturday.
Speaking with firefighters that suffered injuries in the line of duty has given Stolowski a chance to spread a message he has come to live by: “Don’t give up, you’re still here for some reason.”
