It’s now been two decades since six FDNY firefighters were forced to leap from the fourth floor of a Bronx building, killing two and critically injuring four others, on a day now known as Black Sunday. A third firefighter in Brooklyn was also killed that day in the line of duty, marking the first time since 1918 that multiple FDNY members died in separate incidents on the same day.
On the 20th anniversary, hundreds of active and retired FDNY members joined the remaining Black Sunday survivors in honoring their fallen brothers. Of the six firefighters who jumped from the Bronx Building, two died on impact. One of the four survivors has since passed away, succumbing to the injuries he had sustained.
A mass and remembrance ceremony were held on Jan. 23, with attendees crowding the ground floor of Engine Company 46 and Ladder 47 in Tremont. The event began at 11 a.m.
“They went into dangerous situations to make sure that others were safe,” Father Joseph Hoffman, who led the mass, said. “They did this unselfishly and generously, thinking only about saving other people. They were people of service, answering the bell and call to serve was all that mattered.”
On Jan. 23, 2005, fire crews responded to an inferno in a Morris Heights tenement. There were multiple challenges they would face that day, including more than a foot of snow on the ground and the nearest fire hydrant to the building completely frozen over.
As firefighters battled the blaze from inside the building, they were met with an illegally converted apartment. With drywall partitions erected throughout the space, some blocking access to fire escapes, six of New York’s Finest were trapped on the fourth floor. Jumping from the windows was the only way out.
It would be a leap to their death for Lieutenant John Bellow and Lieutenant Curtis Meyran. Lieutenant Joseph DiBernado ultimately passed away from his injuries in 2011.
Hours after the Bronx blaze, Firefighter Richard Sclafani died fighting a two-alarm fire in Brooklyn.
“I know the losses suffered have left a hole in many hearts,” FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker said. “Three tremendous losses from one fire that would be enough to send us all into a deep grief for years to come. The second fire that killed Richard in Brooklyn, on the same day, was probably more than anyone could bear.”
At the time, it was also the deadliest day for the FDNY since the 2001 terrorist attacks.
“We can’t match their sacrifice, but we can try to just keep them in our hearts and in our thoughts,” said Brendan Cawley, one of the four firefighters who survived the fall that day.
As for Dennis Meyran, who was 16 when his father Curtis died on Black Sunday, he keeps his father’s memory alive by following in his footsteps.
“I just want to fill my dad’s shoes… I just feel so proud that his legacy lives on through me,” Meyran, now a firefighter stationed in Queens, said. “I got placed at a great house. I love the guys; they’re all looking out for me.”
The legacy of Joseph DiBernardo also endures in the line of duty, but through the son of Black Sunday survivor Jeff Cool. Cool credits DiBernardo with saving his life.
“The badges are retired when a firefighter dies in the line of duty, but [my son] Jeff asked the DiBernardo family for that, and he wears it proudly,” Cool said.
