By Stacey Altherr
Newsday
NEW YORK — In preparing for the Smithville South Hook, Ladder and Engine Company's 100th anniversary, firefighters reading board meeting ledgers dating to 1908 came upon a curious notation.
The board notes from 1932 stated that volunteer firefighter Fordham Odell died in the line of duty and that a plaque would be purchased to honor his service.
The volunteers from what is now North Bellmore Fire Department's Company No. 1 had never heard of Odell, and no plaque was ever located. The fire company knew of only two other department deaths in the line of duty, Edward Kullman and Edward Steinert, both in 1973.
All three men will be honored tomorrow in front of the department's former firehouse on Newbridge Road at a groundbreaking for two monuments: one for the fallen North Bellmore firefighters and one for firefighters who died on Sept. 11. The firehouse is now a recreation club for volunteers.
"It's such an honor to my grandfather that he wasn't forgotten and that he will be remembered," said Odell's great-great-granddaughter, Melissa Cotgreave, 29, of Wading River, who will attend the ceremony with her husband and two children.
Cotgreave said she learned about her distant relative after her father-in-law discovered him while researching her family's genealogy. That information was put online, and the Smithville volunteers found it and contacted her.
The year 1973 was a deadly one for North Bellmore's Company No. 1. In February, Kullman was killed in a basement fire that also severely injured two other firefighters. He was 45.
That December, Edward Steinert died of a heart attack after hauling heavy hoses on a cold day. He was 40 years old and had just joined the department, said his son Curt Steinert, 36, of Bellmore, a longtime member who just stepped down as captain of the company after serving for a year.
"It makes you really proud to be a part of an organization like this," said Steinert, who was 22 months old when his father died.
Odell died at 50 of a heart attack after responding to an alarm.
The Smithville volunteers also decided to include a memorial for firefighters killed on Sept. 11.
"The company decided to put up the monuments instead of having a big party," said William FitzGerald, captain of the fire company. "We wanted to recognize our fallen members and it coincided with the anniversary."
The department spent five years raising the money through donations. FitzGerald said the monuments will be ready by Memorial Day, and that the bulk of the installation work will be done by the company's volunteers.
Copyright 2008 Newsday
