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Live coverage of funeral for Battalion Chief Michael Goodwin, Philadelphia Fire Department.
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Michael R. Goodwin, Sr.,Captain, Philadelphia Fire Department, Badge # 2773, passed away tragically serving the citizens of Philadelphia on April 6, 2013.Beloved husband of Kelly (nee McDonnell). Loving Dad of Dorothy Dunn (Timothy) and Michael R., Jr. Loving Pop of Timothy Jr. and Bailey Dunn. Dear son of Elizabeth and the late James Goodwin, brother of James (Kelly), Robert (Brenda) and Deborah Goodwin, brother in law of Thomas McDonnell (Joann). Also Surviving are many nieces and nephews. Mike was a member of the Philadelphia Fire Department for over 29 years. He became a firefighter on September 9, 1983, Class # 153. Mike proudly served in the U.S. Navy as an E-4 and was honorably discharged on August 27, 1983. Mike was awarded many commendations while serving the citizens of Philadelphia. He was a Philadelphia Sports fan but the most important aspect of Michael’s life was his family. Relatives, friends, members of Philadelphia Fire Department Local 22 and all first responders are invited to share in Mike’s Life Celebration Wednesday from 5:00- 9:00 PM and Thursday morning from 9:00 to 10:45 AM at John F. Givnish of Academy Rd. 10975 Academy Rd. Michael’s Life Celebration Service will be held at 12:00 Noon at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 2139 E. Cumberland St. Interment Hillside Cemetery, Roslyn, PA. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions in Mike’s memory to the Firefighters Widow Fund c/o Local 22, 415 N. 5th St. Phila, PA 19123 would be appreciated. To share your fondest memories of Mike visit www.lifecelebration.com.
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Previous coverage of this story
AP:
The mayor of Philadelphia on Sunday ordered flags flown at half-staff and called for prayers for the family and colleagues of a veteran fire captain killed when a roof collapsed beneath him as he battled a blaze, the third city firefighter killed in the line of duty in a year.
Capt. Michael Goodwin, 53, plunged onto the second-floor roof of the three-story building in the Fabric Row section during Saturday night’s blaze. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Fellow firefighter Andrew Godlewski, 28, burned on his hands while trying to rescue Goodwin, was discharged Sunday from a hospital, officials said.
“We must never forget the grave risks that these heroic public servants take every day at a moment’s notice on behalf of us all,” Mayor Michael Nutter said in a statement Sunday.
At an emotional news conference late Saturday, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers called Goodwin, a 29-year veteran, “a really good person.”
“He was the kind of guy who looked out for his folks,” he said. “A ladder man. A firefighter’s firefighter.”
Goodwin is survived by a wife, two grown children and three siblings, one of whom is a police officer, he said.
Police officers and fellow firefighters saluted Goodwin’s body, draped in an American flag, as it was carried to a hospital and, later, to a funeral home.
The loss came as the fire department prepared to mark a year since an April 9 blaze at a warehouse that killed Capt. Robert Neary, 59, and Daniel Sweeney, 25. They also died in a collapse, which came as they inspected an adjacent building.
“We have a department that is wounded,” Ayers said. “We have scars that are fresh, and indeed they have now been reopened.”
Nutter ordered flags flown at half-staff at all city buildings for the next 30 days in Goodwin’s honor, officials said.
At Goodwin’s fire station deep in south Philadelphia, bouquets were clustered on and around a wooden bench along with a large toy fire truck and ladder.
The American Red Cross of southeastern Pennsylvania said 17 residents were displaced by the blaze, and three of them needed financial help with hotels, food and clothing.
At the scene Sunday afternoon, a fire hose planted in the middle of the street sprayed a jet of water onto the remains of the building, which had collapsed into a pile that stretched over the sidewalk in between two other three-story row homes. Meals and counseling were being provided for grieving firefighters, the Red Cross said.
The blaze appeared to have started in a fabric store downstairs before spreading to upstairs apartments and a neighboring boutique, the store’s owner said. The proprietors of both stores told The Philadelphia Inquirer that everyone in both buildings at the time of the fire managed to escape.
The fire’s cause wasn’t immediately known, but Bruce Blumenthal, the owner of Jack B. Fabrics, said he believes it started in a wall and may have been electrical in nature. Blumenthal said he smelled smoke coming from the basement at around 5 p.m. and found a box of collars and cuffs on fire. He tried to put the flames out with an extinguisher to no avail, he said.
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
UPDATED: Philadephia Fire Department Capt. Michael Goodwin, Ladder 27, killed in collapse at fabric shop. Firefighter Andrew Godlewski burned trying to save captain. Watch press conference.
9 commentsPhiladelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29
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Watch live report from scene
Philadelphia Fire Department
IAFF Local 22 (Facebook page)
A fire burned a fabric shop, upstairs apartments and a neighboring boutique Saturday evening, causing a partial roof collapse that killed a firefighter and injured a colleague who was trying to rescue him, officials said.
Captain Michael Goodwin, 53, was killed in the line of duty, Amy Daly, a nursing supervisor at Jefferson University Hospitals, told The Associated Press. Goodwin was a 29-year veteran of the fire department. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers says he was killed in a fall from the third floor roof to the second.
The second firefighter, Andrew Godlinski, 28, of Ladder 2, was hospitalized with burns. Officials say he was injured while trying to rescue Captain Goodwin. He is expected to survive.
Officials say Captain Goodwin belonged to Ladder 27. His comrades saluted as his body was carried out and taken to the hospital.
Firefighters stood side by side and saluted 53-year-old Captain Michael Goodwin from Ladder 27b. He was killed in a fall from the third floor roof to the second.
The fire roared out of control for hours from the three story building on the stretch known as “Fabric Row.”
Neighbors say the fire started in the basement of a business called Jack B Fabrics and spread to other parts of the business and apartments upstairs.
Another firefighter 28-year-old Andrew Godlinski, suffered burns while trying to save his fallen captain. He was treated at a local hospital and is expected to survive.
View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.
Engine-11 arrived on scene with smoke showing from the first floor of three story store front with apartments above. B/C-4 reported companies had trouble located the seat of the fire in the basement of fabric store. Placed all hands in service Deputy-1 requested the second alarm. Command ordered all companies out of the building and went in service with an exterior operations. Command requested the third alarm struck for heavy fire through out. Command requested a the collapse unit for a firefighter trapped after a collapse of the building.
The firefighter was recovered from the building and transported to the hospital with serious injuries. Another firefighter was burned in an attempt to rescue the trapped firefighter.
The firefighter was pronounced at the hospital. He had been the Captain of Ladder-27.
The collapse left the firefighter trapped inside the building on the street known as Fabric Row, officials said. Other firefighters saluted as his body was carried out on a stretcher and taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
The fatality came just short of a year since the last time Philadelphia firefighters died in the line of duty. A warehouse blaze in the Kensington section last April 11 killed Capt. Robert Neary, 59, and Daniel Sweeney, 25, both from Ladder 10, and injured two other firefighters.
“We have a department that is wounded,” Ayers said. “We have scars that are fresh, and indeed they have now been reopened.”
The first engine arrived four minutes after the fire call came in, Ayers said. One person inside the building at the time was taken out by firefighters, as they stretched hoses into the building and went to work.
It was 31 minutes after the initial call when the second alarm was struck. Ayers said the crews faced “faced heavy smoke, heavy fire,” adding that from the exterior you could see fabric throughout the store.
It was 6:21 p.m. when officials were informed that a member of the department was “down.” The report changed to one member “missing,” and a third alarm was struck by 6:30 p.m.
Ayers said they found out subsequently that the firefighter “had fallen from the third-floor roof to the second-floor roof.”
“Firefighters were trying to rescue him from the second-floor roof when that roof collapsed,” the fire commissioner went on to say.
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Philadelphia firefighter suspended, accused of setting fire to ladder truck. Reports indicate his lieutenant told him to stop playing with fire.
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The scene of the crime from Google Maps Street View.
A firefighter in Philadelphia has been suspended after being accused of setting fire to the rig where he is assigned. The fire was quickly extinguished by other firefighters. Philadelphia Fire Department Commissioner Lloyd Ayres says fire investigators are looking into Paul Prendergas’ actions on Tuesday morning.
Excerpts from an article by Kitty Capparella at Philly.com:
“I can guarantee the proper discipline will be handed out. This is a very serious infraction,” Ayres added. “We don’t take this lightly.
The commissioner said Prendergas was “engaged in horseplay,” allegedly lighting paper and watching it flame out inside the firehouse on Arch Street near 4th where he worked on Ladder 2.
His supervisor, Lt. Alfonso Mesete, ordered Prendergas, who is in his 20s, to stop playing with fire.
But Prendergas allegedly lit another paper and threw it into the fire truck’s engine compartment, which is normally locked, setting ablaze the motor which operates the truck and powers the firefighting equipment.
Mesete filed a report about the incident, which prompted the Visual Communications Unit to photograph the damage and a Fire Marshal to interview witnesses.
“I’m waiting for all the reports, including the cost of repairs to the truck before taking action,” said Ayres. Mechanics replaced a few parts to make the $800,000 fire truck operable.
Prendergas, who is known by officials as a “problem child,” has faced discipline in the past year, prompting his transfer from Engine 71 at Cottman Avenue and Loretto Street in the Northeast, to Ladder 2, said sources.
Called a “legacy” member of the department, Prendergas comes from a family of firefighters, said one source. “He should know better. What if Ladder 2 was called into service and couldn’t be dispatched because they were fighting a fire on their own truck?”
Judge orders New Haven to promote firefighters: Operating under the instructions from a Supreme Court decision, a U.S. Distict Court judge has ordered the promotion of 14 firefighters. The judgement officially finds the City of New Haven violated the rights of a group of white firefighters after two promotional exams were tossed out five-years-ago. New Haven officials say they will follow the order “as soon as practical”. Watch the video above and read the latest on this closely watched case.
NEW- EMS crew officially passed over for fire company: The conflict between New Jersey’s Quakertown Fire Company and Quakertown VEMS came to light for most of us after a passing incident between a firetruck and an ambulance went bad (click here & scroll down for previous coverage). A recent Tri-Data study determined the fire company was best at providing EMS for Franklin Township. Now Franklin Township has made it official. Read the latest.
It never ends in Bourne: The last we looked at the troubles in Bourne, Massachusetts, selectmen had launched their own investigation into the ongoing troubles surround Lt. Kelli Weeks. But now that the investigation is underway, firefighters are not happy statements are being taken under oath and are concerned about repercussions. Click here for the latest story. Click here for our previous stories and updates on the Bourne Fire Department.
Los Angeles County chief says 21-years is enough: Chief P. Michael Freeman is not the longest serving chief in Los Angeles County’s history. It would take another 6-years to reach that record. But Chief Freeman says it is time to go. Already allowed to serve beyond the normal mandatory retirement age of 60, the chief says he wants to spend more time with his family. Chief Freeman came to Southern California after 24-years with the Dallas Fire Department. Read more.
Chief Gene Doherty of the Revere Fire Department is in trouble with his mayor after letting a firefighter use Ladder 2 for a ride to the chapel.
A very unusual situation in New Jersey leads to chief’s resignation: There are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the Fair Haven fire chief’s plunge into the Navesink River Sunday night. It happened after Shaun Foley hit a pole while driving the chief’s vehicle. Foley was rescued after a 45-minute search that included the U.S. Coast Guard and New Jersey State Police. Foley, who faces drunk driving and other charges, has now resigned. Here’s the latest. And here’s what was reported earlier in the day.
Crack pipes found at fire that hurt ex-Knicks player: Dean Meminger was pulled unconscious from the burning Bronx home Sunday. Now there are reports crack pipes were found in the house, but a cause of the fire has not been listed. The 62-year-old former New York Knicks player is currently in critical but stable condition. Read details.
Family Dollar update from the expert: Our resident expert at Family Dollar store fires at FireEmsBlogs.com is Firegeezer Bill Schumm. So we leave the update to Monday’s fires in Rochester to the Geeze. Click here for the latest.
The wedding bell blues: Chief in Revere, Massachusetts in trouble for letting firefighter use ladder to get to the alter.
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Ladder 2: A little longer than a stretch limo. From the Revere Fire Department website.
Watch the story from WHDH-TV
Revere Fire Department website
It was a 9 mile trip that is making local headlines in Revere, Massachusetts. It happened in the middle of October when Revere’s Ladder 2 was used to take one of the department’s lieutenants to the chapel. It apparently took 90-minutes on a day when Engine 4 from the same station was out of service due to lack of staffing.
Here are excerpts from WHDH-TV’s story:
“The engine company was out that day for manpower shortage so I took a crew from the ladder truck at the same station and moved them over and used the ladder truck for that period of time,” said Chief Gene Doherty, of the Revere Fire Department.
Two volunteers drove the groom and the truck to Nahant. It took just about an hour and a half to get the job done.
“I look at it with a jaundiced eye. We do things for other situations whether its parades and he does a lot of volunteer work. It was my way of rewarding him for the great work that he does,” Doherty said.
Mayor Thomas Ambrosio does not seem to agree.
Chief Gene Doherty from Revere Fire Department website.
After learning about it from 7News he issued a statement saying, “The chief showed very poor judgment in this incident. I will be weighing disciplinary action.”
He said whatever the action, it will be minor.
The firefighter paid for the gas for the truck out of his own pocket.
When asked if he would allow this to happen again, the chief said it would depend on the individual and if the stars are aligned properly, but he would probably talk to the mayor first.
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