FDNY Line of Duty Death
January 3, 1995 - LODD
Firefighter Thomas Wylie, 30
Ladder Co.18
New York City Fire Department. Brooklyn, New York
Firefighter Wylie died of Carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of injuries while battling a 5 story apartment building fire at 23 Rutgers Street in Chinatown two days after Christmas. Flames spread fast when a candle was knocked over in what they called a gambling den in the basement. The flames were fed by kerosene spilled from an illegal heater. The firefighters evacuated far more people, largely immigrants from China, than they had expected to find in a building of that size, the authorities said later. Firefighter Wylie thought there might be others still trapped inside, so he went in to search further. Firefighter Wylie had only been on the job 3 months at the time of his death.
THOMAS A. WYLIE FIREMAN, (PROBIE), LADDER 18 Injured Dec. 27, 1994, Died Jan 3, 1995 Box # 22-0217, 23 RUTGERS ST. OVERCOME BY SMOKE
Firefighter Tommy Wylie badge #4981, had been a full-fledged member of the FDNY for only a few days when he was fatally injured at his very first blaze. He died five days later as seemingly the whole city was praying for a miracle.
Firefighter Thomas Wylie had embarked from their Queens home to Ladder 18 in Manhattan. He responded with the rest of his company to a fire in a five-story Chinatown tenement during the early morning hours of December 29, 1994.
A candle had been knocked over in a basement gambling den, igniting the kerosene in an illegal heater. The initial caller to 911 gave the wrong address, but the firefighters nonetheless arrived in time to rescue a baby.
On the chance that others might need assistance, the firefighters continued searching the smoke-filled interior. Tommy and a veteran firefighter became trapped in the warren of cubicles where the immigrant residents lived crammed in together. Tommy was the less fortunate of the two, and he was close to death from carbon monoxide poisoning when his comrades carried him to the street.
Tommy clung to life on into the New Year. A special mass was held for him at St. Patrick's Cathedral on January 3.
Three hours after the mass, Tommy lost his struggle and died at 11 A.M. at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
His wife Randi said that all the prayers had not been vain, for they "helped send Tommy to a better place."
"And that's getting me get through all this," she said.
The funeral was at St. Luke's Church. Mayor Giuliani delivered the eulogy.
"Thomas Wiley gave his life trying to save the lives of other people," Giuliani said. "By the way he lived his life, by the way he died, he earned a place, a secure place in the history of this city."
The FDNY Pipes and Drums band played "Will Ye No Come Back again?" as his coffin was carried out and 6,000 firefighters saluted.
RIP. Never forget.
