Tuesday, December 16, 2003 Hey... This afternoon, FDNY Firefighter Thomas Brick died while operating at a structure fire at a Manhattan mattress warehouse. FF Brick was found severely burned and in cardiac arrest inside the building. FF Brick was in the first graduating class of FDNY, following 9/11. As always, our deepest sympathies go out to the families and members involved, but especially his wife, kids and parents. More as it is available. Take Care-Be Careful, BillyG The Secret List FirefighterCloseCalls.com ---------------------------------------- (NEW YORK) A firefighter from the Fire Academy's first post-Sept. 11 class was killed and three others were injured Tuesday while battling a blaze that raged for hours at an upper Manhattan mattress warehouse. Thomas Brick, 30, of Manhattan's Ladder Co. 36, was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference. "The only thing he ever wanted to do was be a firefighter," Bloomberg said. Bloomberg added that Brick's mother told the mayor that even as a boy he played atop fire engines. "His greatest dream was realized after 9-11, when he got that call" -- to become a firefighter, the mayor said. On Tuesday, Brick was among the first of more than 150 firefighters called to the scene at 3859 10th Ave. after the four-alarm fire was reported shortly before 12:30 p.m., fire department spokesman John Mulligan said. Brick entered the building along with five other firefighters in a search and rescue mission, Bloomberg said. He was separated from the others, who went looking for him after about 10 minutes. They found him badly burned and in cardiac arrest, Bloomberg said. Mattresses and other materials had collapsed on top of him, but it was unclear whether Brick had already been critically burned by then. He was part of the first class to graduate from the Fire Academy after the September 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, which took the lives of 343 firefighters. "He was a part of a group of brave young men and women who were rebuilding the fire department after that tragic day," Bloomberg said. Brick, a resident of Flushing, Queens, leaves a 4-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son. A second firefighter was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital suffering from exhaustion and smoke inhalation, Mulligan said. Two other firefighters were taken to Jacobi Medical Center with minor injuries, he said. The fire was declared under control shortly after 4 p.m. There was one other civilian injury at the blaze in the Inwood section. The cause of the blaze at the two-story brick building at 205th Street was not immediately known, Mulligan said. Brick, the second firefighter to die in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001, was honored earlier this year along with other members of Ladder Co. 36 for rescuing two people from a Manhattan blaze. Because of the fire, NYC Transit shut down service on the No. 1 and 9 subway lines north of 168th Street. Upper Manhattan riders were asked to use the A line instead.
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