By Barbara Williams
Herald News (Passaic County, N.J.)
Copyright 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.,
All Rights Reserved
LYNDHURST, N.J. — Thousands of firefighters are expected to attend Vincent Neglia’s funeral this week to say goodbye to the respected 18-year veteran, a brother firefighter who died when a Union City building ignited like a blowtorch.
Neglia, 45, from Lyndhurst, will receive a firemen’s funeral at Our Lady of Fatima Church in North Bergen, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, said Fire Chief Brion McEldowney from the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Agency.
“We expect firemen from across the state to attend,” McEldowney said. “Vincent Neglia will be missed throughout the department. He was well-liked and respected, and right now, our members are suffering from this terrible loss.”
The five-alarm blaze damaged the building so badly, it was torn down hours after the Saturday morning blaze. Fire officials said it could have collapsed and was too dangerous to leave standing in the densely populated retail and residential area.
Neglia was one of the first firefighters to arrive Saturday morning at the three-floor apartment building when neighbors said they thought people might still be inside. No smoke or fire was visible as he led a team of firemen through the third floor of 1813 Bergenline Ave. to look for trapped victims.
But an unseen blaze in an air shaft, located in the center of the building and surrounded by four walls, was sending heat and smoke into the cockloft, the space between the third-floor ceiling and the roof. The cockloft ignited and fiery debris rained down onto the North Bergen native. He died after going into cardiac and respiratory arrest.
“The air shafts are typical in these buildings that date back to the pre-1920s before the current ventilation system,” McEdlowney said. “They provided light and air to bathrooms, but they are closed in on all sides and you have no idea when there’s a fire in them.
“The firefighters did a tremendous job, and I don’t know what they could have done differently,” McEldowney said. “If we had more time, we would have people on the roof checking it out, but when you hear there may be people inside, you have to look right away.”
This Fire Department hasn’t lost a firefighter in a blaze since the late 1970s, McEldowney said.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an investigation, although the fire does not appear to be suspicious, fire officials said. No one from the Prosecutor’s Office could be reached on Sunday.
Neglia’s youngest of four siblings, Quirico Neglia, said from his home in Florida on Sunday that even though he didn’t talk to his older brother often, whenever he reached out, he was always there for him. He said his outgoing brother did the same for friends, and was known throughout North Bergen, where they grew up.
“As soon as I told someone my name, they said ‘Oh, you’re Vinny’s brother,’” Quirico Neglia said. “He was always the life of the party, but when I called him, he was always there for me.”
Quirico Neglia said the Fire Department is making arrangements for his brother’s funeral. Neglia is survived by a daughter, Nicole of North Bergen; his parents, of Homosassa, Fla.; a brother, Quirico R. Neglia of Port St. Lucie, Fla.; and three sisters in New Jersey, Gerri Neglia of Farmingdale, Angela Starling of West Paterson, and Nancy Failla of Rochelle Park.