By Hana Alberts
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
Warm winds blew back the black and purple bunting that covered a chain-link fence in Astoria yesterday, and Denise Ford peered into a graffiti-ridden vacant lot overflowing with weeds.
Ford, the widow of one of three firefighters killed when a flaming warehouse collapsed on Father’s Day five years ago, revisited the site of the fire yesterday after attending a memorial Mass at St. Sebastian’s Church in Woodside. Turning to a dozen of her husband’s colleagues, she smiled ruefully.
“I can’t imagine anything taking my husband down,” Ford told them.
John Gaines, a fire department veteran of 19 years, called for a moment of silence in front of three shamrock wreaths — all three victims were proudly Irish.
“Let this not be the forgotten fire,” he said.
For the small group of mourners, it was the last stop in a day of quiet yet celebratory remembrance honoring firefighters Harry Ford and Brian Fahey of Rescue 4 and Lt. John Downing of Ladder 163, who left behind their wives and children June 17, 2001.
Outside a pre-Mass breakfast at St. Sebastian’s Elementary School, firefighter Bobby O’Neill said it is hard to believe that five years have passed since Downing, a friend since childhood, died.
“It feels like forever, and in the same sentence, it feels like yesterday,” he said, standing on the steps of the school, which he and Downing attended.
About 500 people flooded across Woodside Avenue into the church yesterday morning for the service. Remarks centered on the shadow of Sept. 11 and the resilience and dignity of the firefighters’ wives and children.
Msgr. Michael J. Hardiman told of a time in Minnesota when he corrected a local news station for attributing a firefighter’s cry for help — “I’m under the stairs, come and get me” — to Sept. 11. In fact, Brian Fahey had radioed that message as he was trapped in the Astoria warehouse.
“Each firefighter we lose is important to us,” Hardiman said. “Each one as an individual is dear to us ...”
Former deputy fire commissioner Lynn Tierney spoke on behalf of the three widows, recalling how she had visited each grieving family after the fire. She observed that the children in each family — Janna, 29, Harry, 17, and Gerard Ford, 15; Brendan, 8, Patrick, 8, and James Fahey, 8; and Joanne Downing, 12 — were becoming more like their fathers every day.
“To the kids, your dads were heroes,” she said, adding that the three widows — Ford, of Long Beach, Anne Downing, of Port Jefferson, and Mary Fahey, of East Rockaway — should also be recognized on Father’s Day.
In a surprise ceremony after the service, Fire Department Chief Salvatore Cassano dedicated the new Collapse Unit 4 to the three victims of the fire, accidentally started by two teens. The truck is loaded with equipment to aid firefighters if a building collapses — from jacks to lift heavy walls to listening devices to hear someone tapping to heavy-duty saws that can cut through steel and metal.
“The tools and equipment on this rig will save many lives for many years to come,” Cassano said. “I couldn’t think of a more fitting tribute than to these three men who it is named after.”