By Lou Michel
The Buffalo News
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo firefighters carefully hung their drapes of mourning outside two firehouses on Jefferson Avenue and Main Street on Monday, out of respect for Lt. Charles W. “Chip” McCarthy Jr. and Firefighter Jonathan S. Croom.
But the black and dark blue bunting was only one of the signs that fellow firefighters were just beginning to come to terms with their loss.
Eyes were rimmed red from tears, stories about McCarthy and Croom from
happier times made the rounds, and colleagues collected personal effects from their fallen comrades during the early hours of grief.
Yet just beneath the hard reality of sudden death was an unmistakable sense of pride among the living for the bravery demonstrated by McCarthy and Croom, who had selflessly charged into a burning building on Genesee Street on Monday morning after getting word that someone might be trapped inside.
“Chip was a great firefighter, very brave. He inspired me to want to become a lieutenant,” said Lt. John W. Keohane of Ladder 7, on Main Street near Bennett High School. "[And] when it came to going on calls, Jon was always a professional, just a high-quality individual.”
That just scratches the surface in getting to know Croom and McCarthy.
‘The best of the best’
“McCarthy” is believed to be the most common surname among Buffalo firefighters, so it was no surprise when fire officials and their supporters pointed out that Lt. McCarthy came from a family of firefighters.
His father, Charles, and his uncle James were both firefighters. The lieutenant’s brother, Danny McCarthy, serves as a lieutenant at Engine 2 at Virginia Street and Elmwood Avenue. Their cousin Patrick McCarthy is a lieutenant at Ladder 6, which is stationed at the same firehouse on Jefferson Avenue at Kingsley Street where Chip McCarthy was assigned to Rescue 1 — the department’s most elite unit because it responds to every serious fire call and accident in the city.
McCarthy also is survived by his wife, Terry, three children and a 6-month-old grandchild.
“Pat’s locker is just four lockers away from his cousin Chip’s locker,” Rescue 1 Capt. William E. Clotfelter said, pointing to the narrow vertical lockers that hold turnout gear and personal property.
Two firefighters hunched beside the open door of 45-year-old Chip McCarthy’s locker and, with reverence, removed his items, stowing them in his gym bag, as Clotfelter described him as the “best of the best.”
Devoted to the family
In pointing out the abundance of McCarthys in the department, the captain smiled and said, “I don’t think there’s even a close second to the last name of McCarthy. Some of the McCarthys are related to each other, and some aren’t.”
But he and others all agreed that firefighting runs in the blood of the McCarthys whether or not they’re officially related.
While “Croom” may not be common name on the Fire Department rolls, there was no question he was loved as a fellow firefighter at Ladder 7. “He was loving life, looking forward to raising his young daughter and another child that’s on the way,” Keohane said. “When we’d work nights and his platoon came to replace us in the day, Jon always had a smile and a ‘hi, hello’ for us.”
At the end of his shift, Croom headed to his second-floor apartment in North Buffalo, where he lived with his fiancee, Ingrid, and their 9-month-old daughter, Joanna. Ingrid, according to their landlady, is due to give birth to their second child in a few weeks.
Adding joy to being the father of a young, growing family was the fact that the 34-year-old Croom had known heartbreak and was now getting a second start. For earlier in the day, fire officials said Croom had lost a young child a few years back.
“He was beyond amazing. I always felt safe with him living upstairs from me. He’s the only reason I kept the house,” said Kelin Ryan, owner of the 21/2-story home.
Croom was so devoted to his family, Ryan said, that he gave away his pet dog, Marley, several months ago so he would have no distractions in caring for his family. “He had just bought his own house in Amherst, and they were going to be moving there,” Ryan said, gazing at the flower bed in her front yard. “I keep looking there at the sunflowers he and Ingrid had planted. They were planning to transplant them at their home in Amherst.”
‘In his dad’s footsteps’
At Ladder 7, Firefighter Mark E. Robinson said Croom’s cheerful disposition was such that it was impossible to disrupt it, even when others tried to stir up some good-natured mischief among one another.
“Teasing never bothered him. He was lighthearted,” Robinson said of Croom, whose official department portrait shows a man whose smile would surely brighten any firehouse.
Speaking of McCarthy, Keohane recalled his first day at Ladder 11, formerly on Fillmore Avenue near Broadway, and climbing up into the tiller seat at the back of the rig, where a second firefighter helped steer the extended ladder truck.
“I wanted to learn how to drive it, and Chip came down and said, ‘Don’t get too comfortable up there. That’s my seat. You get it when I’m off,’ ” Keohane said, breaking out into laughter on a day filled with so much sadness.
Robinson recalled that McCarthy worked a second job doing house painting.
“One time years ago, I was painting a kitchen door at the firehouse, and he noticed how I was painting and he said, ‘Take longer strokes and buy yourself a better brush,’” Robinson said. “I had to listen to him. He knew what was right. He knew his paint, but he was kindly when he corrected.”
Keohane remembered that McCarthy’s dad had also done house painting on the side.
“Chip followed in his dad’s footsteps as a firefighter and a painter as well,” said Keohane, making a big point out of such tradition and seeming to find some solace on such a tragic day.
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