FDNY Line of Duty Death
https://www.facebook.com/fireservicelineofdutydeaths/#January 6, 1970 - LODD
Fireman Carmelo J. Puccia, 31
Engine 53
FDNY. East Harlem - Manhattan, New York
Fireman Puccia was struck and killed by a diesel train on the Penn Central Railroad (now Metro North RR). This happened after the electrical power was ordered off.
Beneath Grand Central Station is a labyrinth of railroad tracks all powered by an electrical third rail.
Rubbish came in contact with the third rail causing a fire. Power to the third rail was confirmed off and Fireman Carmelo Puccia of Engine 53 walked the tracks to make sure the fire was out.
Work trains using diesel-powered locomotives, not electricity, continued running. As Fireman Puccia was returning to inform the Chief that the fire had burned itself out, a diesel-powered locomotive struck him. He was married with two children and on the job for less than two years. He was thirty-two years old.
("The Last Alarm" by Boucher, Urbanowicz & Melahn, 2007)
RIP. Never forget.
