FDNY Remembers Black Sunday on 10th Anniversary of Tragedy
FDNY Chaplain Fr. Christopher Keenan leads the remembrance mass.
Hundreds of FDNY members gathered at the quarters of Engine 46/Ladder 27 in the Bronx on Jan. 24 to remember the 10th anniversary of Black Sunday รข€“ two fires on Jan. 23, 2005, that killed four brave firefighters.
Lt. Curtis Meyran, Battalion 26, and Lt. John Bellew, Ladder 27, died after being forced to jump from a fourth-floor window while operating at a fire in the Bronx that day. While Lt. Joseph DiBernardo, Rescue 3, died in 2011 as a result of the debilitating injuries he sustained at that fire.
Firefighter Richard Sclafani, Ladder 103, died in a separate fire in Brooklyn on Jan. 23, 2005.
"The members of the FDNY have made certain these men will always be remembered," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
Firefighters from throughout NYC attended the ceremony.
The families of those lost attended the ceremony, as well as Firefighters Eugene Stolowski and Brendan Cawley, who survived the Bronx fire.
"The support we have received from the FDNY is unbelievable," Firefighter Stolowski said. "This is a wonderful way to remember the brothers we lost 10 years ago."
The four heroes were remembered as outstanding firefighters who loved their families.
Retired Deputy Chief Joseph DiBernardo described his son, Lt. DiBernardo, as someone who loved the FDNY.
"He was 100 percent into the Fire Department," he said. "We will never forget him."
Eileen Bellew, Lt. Bellew's wife, said she regularly tells her four children stories about their father.
"Sometimes we focus so much on the loss, but [the children] continue to learn from him," she said. "He still teaches them lessons of empathy and compassion."
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