2 Bridgeport Firefighters Die in house fire

As of 1700 hrs....

Brothers / Sisters,

Planning meetings all day...still on going.  Planning group is BFD, CT Statewide 
Honor Guard, Waterbury FD, FDNY, and Boston FD.
The initial reports of private services on Friday was incorrect!!!  Both Church
services are open and full FD Honors.  Both burials / Cemetery services are 
PRIVATE.
Thursday, July 29th
1st Calling Hours - Lt. Steven Velasquez
1200-1600 hrs
Klien Auditorium
910 Fairfield Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 
2nd Calling Hours - FF Michel Baik
1600-2000 hrs
Abriola Funeral Home
419 White Plains Road
Trumbull, CT
Friday, July 30th
1st Funeral - Lt. Steven Velasquez
1000 hrs
St. Augustine's Cathedral
359 Washington Avenue
Bridgeport, CT
2nd Funeral - FF Michel Baik
1400 hrs
St. Nicholas Atiochian Orthodox Church
5458 Park Ave
Bridgeport
Reception following at Harbor YARD.
Both Burials are PRIVATE.  
CT Fire Fighters Pipes and Drums will be the ONLY band.  
STAGING:  Steele Point ( Stratford Ave. / Pembroke Ave.)  - I-95 s/b exit 28, 
I-95 n/b exit 29.  ALL UNIFORM PERSONNEL are asked to park here and be bussed to 
1st Church, then 2nd Church, then Reception at Harbor Yard and will provide 
shuttles from Harbor Yard to Steel Point.  Bus start shuttling to Church at 
0700 hrs.
NO Fire apparatus, no outside Pipe and Drum Bands.
Light refreshments, port-a-potties available at both Church locations

BRIDGEPORT -- Lt. Steven Velasquez and Firefighter Michel Baik were on the third-floor of the wood-frame home at 41 Elmwood Ave., checking for hot spots and making sure there were no people in the smoldering blaze. Then trouble hit. The two sent mayday signals back to dispatch.

Within minutes, the fire department's rapid intervention team found the pair on the floor, unconscious, and gave them CPR.

The two men could not be revived.

Hours later, a somber and distraught Mayor Bill Finch at a news conference talked about the two, both family men with young children. Velasquez was Finch's neighbor, and the mayor recalled pinning his badge on him when he was promoted to lieutenant in February. Baik, he said, was a rookie with two years on the job.

Fire officials were too upset to attend the press conference, Finch said, adding Chief Brian Rooney, who was out of state when the fire hit, sped back to Bridgeport to be with his men. "They're just too emotional to talk about it," Finch said.

Finch seemed close to tears when talking about how Velasquez's widow held the couple's newborn when he delivered the news of her husband's death. "It was not easy," he said. "They were both dedicated to their families. We're really going to miss them."

Velasquez had received the Medal of Merit, the department's third-highest award, in 2000.

The last time the department lost a member was in 1999, when Walter Flyntz died in a fire on Fairfield Avenue.

The initial report of the fire at the multi-family wood structure was called in to officials at 3:53 p.m., and all of the building's occupants were safely evacuated, according to Finch.

Deputy Fire Chief Robert Petrucelli said he arrived on the scene 15 minutes into the fire and found heavy smoke coming from the second and third floors.

"Firefighters were making progress on the fire," Finch said, "knocking down the flames."

He said Velasquez and Baik were the furthest inside the house, doing search and rescue and ventilating the house.

There's no immediate word on what caused the fire, and Finch said the State Fire Marshal's Office will be investigating not only the cause of the blaze, but also looking at the equipment used by the deceased firefighters. Officials believe, however, that the fire started in the second-floor apartment.

Finch said that Velasquez and Baik were found "in a matter of minutes" after the mayday calls, adding more information "will come out in the investigation."

Three other firefighters were taken to the hospital, Finch said. One had a broken ankle -- an eyewitness said he saw a firefighter fall out of a third floor window -- and the other two were treated for heat exhaustion.

Finch said he visited the three injured firefighters at Bridgeport Hospital. "They were very somber and subdued," he said. "They knew we'd lost Steve and Mich."

Even at 9 p.m., long after the fire was extinguished, Finch said some Bridgeport firefighters remained at the scene. "They're very emotional, it's a close-knit fire department," Finch said. "It's very hard when they lose a member.

Almost "half the department" was at the fire, the mayor said, and the first truck -- Engine 3 -- was actually on its way to an elevator rescue when firefighters spotted the smoke and diverted to the fire.

Firefighters from Milford and Fairfield provided mutual aid during the fire, and Fairfield firefighters, their equipment and their chief, Richard Felner, stayed to fill in for the Bridgeport crews.

At the Congress Street headquarters, Felner said, the Bridgeport firefighters were being debriefed and receiving any help they might need. "We'll stay here as long as they want us; we're here for them. It's a bad, bad scene, especially for the crew that was working with them."

Bridgeport apparatus responding to the fire were Engines 1, 3, 4 and 7, Ladders 5 and 11 and Rescue 5.

Finch said he was grateful for the assistance from other communities. "Our firefighters need to go home," he said.

While Fairfield firefighters filled in Bridgeport, crews from Norwalk and Westport were covering in Fairfield, he said.

Correspondent John Mongillo Jr. contributed to this report.

Did firefighters' oxygen tanks run out?

Daniel Tepfer, Staff Writer

Published: 04:58 p.m., Sunday, July 25, 2010

BRIDGEPORT -- Firefighters. They rush into buildings when everyone else is rushing out.

"Maybe there's something wrong with our wiring," said Assistant Fire Chief Manuel Firpi, as he stood Sunday outside the 7-11, the Ocean Terrace firehouse. "It's like a calling, like a priest or a teacher or a medic, not everyone can do the job. There's just something inside you that says I'm going to risk life and limb to help somebody I don't even know."

Firpi was at the 7-11 to try and explain the deaths Saturday afternoon of two firefighters, Lt. Steven Velasquez and Michel Baik, in what was supposed to be a routine fire on the city's West Side.

"We joke around with each other, call each other names, things I wouldn't want to say here, and tear each other down all the time as kind of a way to deal with stress," Firpi continued. "Because we know there are those times we are going to be running hard especially when we hear a child is in danger."

Although there's been no conclusion as to the official cause of death, speculation among their fellow firefighters is that the two ran out of oxygen in their breathing tanks and were overcome with smoke.

Fire Department Spokesman Capt. Ed McCann said the State Fire Marshal's office, which was called in to investigate the fire and the deaths of the two firefighters, has confiscated the two men's breathing equipment to determine if there were any problems.

"They had full equipment on when they went in and we don't know if there was a problem with the equipment or they just ran out of air," he said. "My feeling is that they probably ran out of air, but we won't know until they finish the investigation."

McCann explained that the tanks hold between a half hour to 45 minutes of oxygen. "Sometimes its longer, sometimes its shorter, depending on the man and the amount of work he is doing. In a situation like this where it was hot they could have really been gulping the air."

Saturday's high temperatures in Bridgeport were in the low 90s, and the peak humidity was 94 percent.

On Sunday morning Fire Chief Brian Rooney addressed a roomful of news media at department headquarters about the devastating fire.

"Yesterday our department experienced our worst nightmare," confirmed Rooney. "We lost two of our bravest firefighters, two great firefighters, two great heros."

Rooney said there is always a danger when responding to a fire at any of the hundreds of wood-frame multi-family homes that make up city neighborhoods. Because of their balloon-style construction, fire gets between the walls and spreads directly to the upper floor and roof. But, he said, in most cases the blazes are put down quickly and everyone goes home.

But not this time.

"We are still in shock and disbelief," he added.

What is known is that Velasquez, a 16-year veteran of the fire department, and Baik, a rookie of two years, were sent to the third floor of the building at 41 Elmwood Ave. to rip down the ceiling to root out any hidden hot spots and to search for anyone still trapped in the building.

"They were doing something that is quite routine," Rooney continued, looking very grim. "Something obviously went wrong."

Another firefighter who got to the scene saw that Velasquez and Baik were in trouble and called a "mayday," which Rooney said brought an immediate response from the rapid intervention team waiting outside the building.

"The two men were brought out and they worked on them trying to revive them but were unsuccessful," he said.

"We face the potential of this happening every day but try not to think about it," he said, his voice choking with emotion. "It could have happened to any one of us."

Funeral arrangements for the two firefighters were still being planned Sunday. Firefighters from all over the country are expected to attend the funeral. The Arena at Harbor Yard is being discussed as a possible venue for a memorial service.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff in honor of the two firefighters.

Back at the Ocean Terrace firehouse, it was obvious Autumn Waggoner had been crying. In her starched blue firefighter's uniform she tried not to show it, keeping a hold on her emotions. But it was apparent they were starting to get the better of her.

Asked her official title she stiffened her back and proclaimed proudly, "I'm a fireman."

Firpi said the loss of the two men was devastating to the fire company. "We are holding each other up. It's tough but the job still has to be done."

He said the men's shift was taken off duty Saturday night and were sent to see crisis intervention counselors. "But most of those guys have booked back in. There is no hesitation; if the same kind of call came in they would be back right at it."

To Waggoner it was the little things that set her off Sunday.

"When we opened the door this morning someone had put these candles outside. Somebody did this quiet little thing and it was very dear," she said.

"And then Mitch's boots were inside and we kept hearing this beeping. Mitch's cell phone was in one of his boots."

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