FDNY Fire Service Line of Duty Death
March 17, 1979 - LODD
Firefighter John T. McKenna, 30
Ladder 34
FDNY. Manhattan, New York
Firefighter McKenna died as a result of injuries he sustained February 22nd, when he fell through a roof while operating at a two alarm fire at 190 Wadsworth Avenue. He had suffered burns over 74% of his body, and smoke inhalation.
NY Times
March 19, 1979
John T. McKenna, a fireman critically burned in a two‐alarm fire in a Washington Heights apartment building on Feb. 22, died Saturday night in the burn center of New York Hospital, according to the Fire Department.
Mr. McKenna, 30 years old, suffered burns over three‐quarters of his body and smoke inhalation when he fell through a roof into a burning fifth‐floor apartment at 190 Wadsworth Avenue, near West 183d Street.
He was the first fireman to die in the line of duty this year and the 725th in the 114‐year history of the department.
He was single and lived in East Elmhurst, Queens.
Following a mass Wednesday at the Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City, Mr. McKenna will be buried with full departmental honors at Calvary Cemetery.
Fireman John T. McKenna was operating on the roof of an apartment building when it gave way and he fell into the fiery apartment below in this two-alarm fire. He was pulled from the burning apartment by fellow firemen but not before receiving burns over seventy-four percent of his body. He was taken to the hospital where he was cared for until his death on March 17. He was thirty years old and a member of the Department since August 13, 1977. He was not married. "The Last Alarm" by Boucher, Urbanowicz and Melhan
RIP. Never forget.