3 Firefighters Killed, 50 Injured

[Guest guest]

Raffa............or someone in NY...........What the heck happened here

!!

Another tragedy...

3 Firefighters Killed, 50 Injured

By DUNSTAN PRIAL

..c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Explosions sparked by a fire in a hardware store toppled the

building's roof and brick facade, killing three firefighters and burying

dozens beneath the rubble. More than 50 people were injured.

The fire was reported about 2:20 p.m. and was still burning hours later.

About 20 minutes after firefighters arrived, propane tanks and paint stored

in the basement exploded. The building collapsed onto firefighters, burying

many and tossing others across the street.

Firefighters, police, rescue personnel and two civilians were among the

injured, most of whom were treated in hospital and released.

``It sounded like a charge when they detonate a building to demolish it,''

said Cleavon Wills, 27, who lives in an apartment above the store and was

playing keyboard in the adjacent Lighthouse Church. ``I thought the whole

building had collapsed.''

Wills said fellow churchgoers were thrown from their seats.

Outside the hardware store, he said, ``There were firemen lying underneath a

wall of bricks. They were unconscious and bloody, and their raincoats were

torn.''

One firefighter described the scene as a ``war zone.''

``What was a quiet Sunday turned into a terrible tragedy very quickly,'' said

fire Commissioner Von Essen.

Residents within several blocks of the store were evacuated from their homes.

More than 350 firefighters and 70 rescue units were called to the scene.

Two firefighters, Harry Ford, 50, and Downing, 40, were buried beneath

the rubble and died. The third firefighter, Fahey, 46, died after

falling into the basement as the building collapsed.

A fourth firefighter, ph Vosilla, 41, was in critical condition.

All three of those killed were married fathers - a fact noted by Mayor

Rudolph Giuliani during a hospital press conference. Ford and Fahey had three

children; Downing had two.

``I can't think of a more tragic Father's Day,'' Giuliani said.

The hardware store, the Long Island General Supply Co., is on the first floor

of the two-story building, with apartments above it. It is located in the

Queens section of the city.

Neighborhood resident Spiro Colovos, 55, said he heard a series of pops and a

large explosion, ran to the scene and saw firefighters administering CPR to

their colleagues.

``They looked like they were in terrible shape,'' he said.

The three firefighters are among the four who have died on duty in New York

City this year.

New York City last lost three firefighters on Dec. 18, 1998, in an apartment

fire. Six were killed in a 1978 structural fire.

The last time three U.S. firefighters were killed on duty was in Keokuk,

Iowa, on Dec. 22, 1999, two weeks after a Massachusetts blaze killed six

firefighters.

On the Net:

New York Fire Department: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/fdny/home.html

Firefighting facts: http://www.firehouse.com