By Rick Pfeiffer
The Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
NIAGRA FALLS, N.Y. — As news that two Buffalo firefighters might be lost inside a burning Buffalo deli was relayed on morning radio and TV news programs Monday, Falls Fire Chief William MacKay reached for his cell phone.
He dialed Buffalo Fire Commissioner Mike Lombardo.
“I was able to get through to him on his cell,” MacKay said, “and he said it didn’t look good.”
MacKay immediately offered Lombardo whatever assistance the Falls Fire Department could muster.
“I told him whatever they needed, they just needed to ask,” MacKay said. “I offered anything the Niagara Falls Fire Department could do.”
After the call, MacKay and Battalion Chief Greg Colangelo drove to the scene in Buffalo, Shortly after they arrived, Buffalo firefighters recovered the bodies of Lt. Charles “Chip” McCarthy, a 22-year veteran, and firefighter Jonathan Croom, a 10-year veteran of the department.
In that moment of crisis, Lombardo asked for grief counselors from the Falls Fire Department.
“We’ve always had an in-house ability to do peer-to-peer counseling,” MacKay said. “This was a natural extension to do it for a neighboring fire department with critical needs.”
Three Falls firefighters immediately responded to Buffalo to begin the counseling efforts. Three more replaced them Monday night.
MacKay said 10 members of the Niagara Falls department have undergone specialized training to act as counselors. The chief declined to identify the firefighters by name, saying he wanted them to concentrate on helping their brother firefighters in Buffalo.
“They have their mission, and that’s what we want them to focus on,” MacKay said.
The Rev. Patrick Bradley, chaplain for the Falls Police Department and one of several chaplains who serves Falls firefighters, said having fellow firefighters perform counseling for the Buffalo Department is a good idea.
“The firefighter fraternity is not just within departments, but reaches across departments,” Bradley said.
Bradley said in firefighting, peers may be uniquely able to help the Buffalo firefighters to deal with their loss.
“The type of support that’s needed is (support) that acknowledges the depth of the loss, and lets them know the overwhelming grief they are feeling is normal with what they are facing,” Bradley said. “They are giving the firefighters in Buffalo a chance to talk about what they saw, heard, smelled and talking about how they are affected by that.”
The veteran chaplain said the Falls counselors will also help their Buffalo peers with coping mechanisms that will help them to get through the next few days and weeks.
""It’s important that they take care of themselves,” Bradley said of the Buffalo firefighters. “They need to sleep, eat and exercise normally. It will help them cope.”
MacKay said the Falls firefighter counselors have been in place for a long time.
“This (program) was in existence for years, fortunately, we haven’t had to use it for in-line-of-duty deaths,” the chief said. “We have used it to deal with some of the other horrific things (firefighters) see.”
Lombardo said McCarthy, who was assigned to a team whose members are trained to find and free trapped fire victims, was in the burning structure because of a report of someone in the basement screaming for help. He fell into the basement when the floor beneath him collapsed.
When McCarthy pressed a distress button on his radio, Croom responded to the mayday call and also fell through the collapsed floor.
Rescue crews tried repeatedly to get to the two fallen firefighters, but were beaten back by fire and further collapses inside the building.
“This was one of those times when, until the floor collapsed, this was just a routine fire,” MacKay said. "(McCarthy and Croom) knew when they joined the fire department the day may come when they may make the ultimate sacrifice.”
Knowing that day could come and actually facing it, MacKay said, is a burden for a chief.
“This is this the day that no chief wants to face. We spend our entire life trying not to deal with this situation,” he said. “We went down there to talk to our brother firefighters. It’s something we do. It’s the nature of the beast. We know that if a tragedy strikes us, (the Buffalo firefighters will) be there for us, as well.”
Copyright 2009