FF Kenneth W. Kerr, Engine 90, November 15, 2000 Never forget
NY Post
"HEART ATTACK KILLS FIREMAN, 44, AFTER BRONX STAIR CLIMB
By Murray Weiss
November 16, 2000 | 5:00am
A Bronx firefighter died of a heart attack yesterday just hours after hauling heavy gear up six flights to put out a fire in an elevator. Kenneth Kerr, 44, a 14-year veteran and a father of four, arrived to put out the fire in an apartment building on Bronxdale Avenue around 9:40 a.m. After carrying a hose up six flights of stairs, he told another firefighter that he was feeling ill and gave up his position at the front of the hose, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said. ?He didn?t feel good. He told everybody he didn?t feel right. He asked the guy behind him to take over the line,? Von Essen said.
The fire ? apparently caused by an electrical line damaged as workers were repairing the elevator ? was put out and Kerr and other members of Engine Co. 90 returned to their firehouse on White Plains Road in the Morris Park section. Kerr went upstairs to take a shower. Other firefighters found him lying in the shower about 11 a.m. His colleagues frantically tried to revive him but could not detect a pulse, Von Essen said. EMS paramedics rushed Kerr to Jacobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Kerr joined the Fire Department in 1986 and spent his entire career at Engine Co. 90. He worked as a nozzle man, the firefighter who operates the nozzle at the end of the hose, closest to the fire.He was the first firefighter to die on the job this year. He passed a physical exam last year, Von Essen said.Kerr was working a 24-hour shift that began at 6 p.m. Tuesday.Kerr?s wife Lorraine, 36, was ?very, very distraught,? Von Essen said. The couple had four children, Kenneth Jr., 11, Kelly, 9, Karalyn, 8, and Kevin, 4.
Neighbors on Kerr?s block in Newburgh, in Orange County, said the firefighter appeared healthy and was often outside, doing yard work or working on a boat he was restoring. ?He was a very nice man. I can?t believe it, he was so young,? said neighbor Barbara Davis. ?You never know what tomorrow brings. All their kids are beautiful kids. I can?t believe he?s gone. I don?t know what they?re going to do,? Davis said. ?I?ll just pray for her,? she said of the widow. ?I?ll let her know that God is with her.?
At the firehouse, firefighters wept and consoled one another. ?The whole house is upset,? said a union representative who refused to give his name. ?They lost a brother. He was an excellent fireman, very aggressive, very well liked. He was someone they looked up to.?
Bravest death toll - Recent line-of-duty firefighter deaths in the city:
June 1999: Capt. Vincent Fowler, 46, died from a heart attack when he ran out of oxygen in the smoke-filled basement of a burning Queens home.
December 1998: Firefighters James Bohan, 25, Christopher Bopp, 27, and Lt. Joseph Cavalieri, 42, died while searching for elderly residents they thought were trapped inside a building in Starrett City, Brooklyn. The sprinkler system had been shut off in the building.
June 1998: Lt. James Blackmore, 48, and Capt. Scott LaPiedra, 40, ran into a burning building in East New York, Brooklyn, and were thrown into the flames when the floor collapsed. Blackmore was killed and LaPiedra died several weeks later from his burns.
April 1998: Firefighter Raymond Nakovics, 49, died of a heart attack while attaching hoses to a hydrant during an apartment-house fire on Manhattan?s West Side.
NY Times, November 16, 2000:
"Firefighter Collapses and Dies After a Fire
A 41-year-old firefighter died yesterday about an hour after he returned from a fire in the Bronx, where he helped haul a hose up six flights of steps and directed its flow of water, officials said. The firefighter, Kenneth Kerr, was found unconscious in the shower at the firehouse of Engine Company 90 on White Plains Road in the Bronx about 11:15 a.m., apparently after suffering a heart attack, said Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen. Mr. Kerr had just returned from a fire at 2040 Bronxdale Avenue, where he had told fellow firefighters that he was not feeling well.
Commissioner Von Essen said Mr. Kerr had served as the nozzle man, a Fire Department term for the firefighter who directs the spray of the hose, an exhausting task that requires great strength.
When he returned to the firehouse, Mr. Kerr told colleagues he was going to take a shower. He had collapsed when he was found about 10 minutes later." Firefighters worked to revive Mr. Kerr in the firehouse, the commissioner said, and paramedics continued to work on him while they transported him to Jacobi Medical Center. Mr. Kerr was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later at the hospital. ''It's a horrible loss for us, such a young, healthy guy,'' Commissioner Von Essen said.
Mr. Kerr, who had been a firefighter for 14 years, was married and had four young children, the commissioner said.
