FDNY Line of Duty Death
July 5, 2014 - LODD
Lieutenant Gordon M. Ambelas, 40
L119
Fire Department City of New York. Brooklyn, NY
Lieutenant Ambelas died from injuries sustained when he became trapped while searching for occupants of a burning high-rise residential building.
Lt. Gordon Matthew Ambelas, 40, a 14-year veteran of the FDNY, was searching for victims as he and members of Ladder 119 beat back flames on the 19th floor of the Independence Towers on Wilson St. at about 9:10 p.m.
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The Fire Department of New York is mourning the death of a lieutenant who became trapped while looking for victims in a public-housing high-rise blaze, the first to die in the line of duty in more than two years.
Lt. Gordon Ambelas died Saturday after suffering multiple injuries while on the 19th floor of the 21-story building in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, officials said.
"We lost a real hero tonight and our hearts are heavy," Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the 14-year veteran of the force. "I ask every New Yorker to keep the lieutenant in their prayers."
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters that Ambelas sustained multiple injuries after he went into an apartment on fire to look for victims. He was found unconscious inside of the apartment and was removed by fellow firefighters, de Blasio said.
"Ambelas went into the apartment to search for life and did not come out, and by the time his brother firefighters found him, it was too late for him," Nigro said.
It is the department's first line-of-duty death since Lt. Richard A. Nappi was killed fighting a Brooklyn warehouse blaze in April 2012.
Ambelas is the 18th to die since 343 firefighters perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Ambelas, a married father of two daughters from Staten Island, was among the firefighters honored last month for helping to save a 7-year-old boy who became trapped in a roll-down gate in May. The boy was pulled 15 feet off the ground when his arm and head got stuck.
Ambelas was promoted to lieutenant 10 months ago.
RIP. Never forget.