The Associated Press
ISLIP, N.Y. — Accompanied by the skirl of bagpipes and rain falling from gray skies, thousands of firefighters lined up outside a Long Island church Saturday to pay their respects to a veteran colleague killed during a Bronx blaze.
The ceremony, the second in two-days for a fallen New York firefighter, was a mixture of solemnity and happy remembrances of Fire Lt. Howard Carpluk.
His body arrived at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in a flag draped casket. His wife, Debra, said his loss would leave a permanent hole in the family.
“I’ve told my children that I can never fill his shoes,” she said.
But she and other mourners also recalled Carpluk, 43, as a firehouse prankster who never grew up, and never grew tired of kidding his friends and co-workers.
“In Engine 42, it wasn’t uncommon to answer a phone and find it covered in peanut butter,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The mayor said Carpluk, who had given 20 years to the fire department, ultimately gave his life for the people of New York.
The ceremony came the day after the funeral of rookie firefighter Michael Reilly, 25, who also died in a partial collapse of the same burning store on Aug 27.
Reilly had only recently started with the department and was still on probationary status when he died. Firefighters said some of Carpluk’s first words when he was pulled, fatally injured, from the wreckage were to ask for help for the young firefighter.
The funeral brought firefighters from around the country.
Fire Lt. Bob Baker made the trip from Dallas to pay his respects, saying firefighters from New York City had done the same when someone died in his department. He said Carpluk served as an inspiration for others.
“He’s a great example of what keeps America the way it is today and that’s why so many people are here,” he said.
Carpluk was appointed to the fire department on Aug. 2, 1986. During his career, he was awarded two citations for bravery, including one for a rescue on March 30, 1988, when he saved the lives of two unconscious men he found in the bedroom of a fire-engulfed apartment in the Bronx.
He is survived by his wife and two children, ages 10 and 14. His fellow firefighters set up a Lt. Howie Carpluk Memorial Fund to help the family.