NYC firefighter from Orange relives day that claimed the lives of his comrades

A NYC firefighter involved in the day know as 'Black Sunday' relived what happened just one day after indictments were handed down in connection with the deadly fire. Eugene Stolowski, of Florida, was

News 12 Staff

May 29, 2014, 7:03 PM

Updated 3,864 days ago

Share:

A NYC firefighter involved in the day know as 'Black Sunday' relived what happened just one day after indictments were handed down in connection with the deadly fire.
Eugene Stolowski, of Florida, was one of the firefighters who was forced to jump from a burning building in January 2005. Stolowski has since been recovering from serious injuries both physically and emotionally. John Bellew of Pearl River and a firefighter from Long Island were killed when they jumped after being trapped in the building.
Three tenants and the corporation that owned the building where charged Wednesday with manslaughter and reckless endangerment. The indictment revealed the apartments were illegally subdivided to house more tenants, which left the firefighters with no egress out of the building. Stolowski is happy that someone is being held accountable for the tragedy and says hopefully it won?t happen again.
The Bronx fire also led the FDNY to issue firefighters personal ropes that could have prevented the deadly four-story plunges. The entire department is expected to be trained and have the ropes by June.