Firefighters remembered at 'Black Sunday' memorial

? Family members and colleagues of two fallen firefighters who jumped to their deaths in 2005 attended a memorial Mass Friday, the fourth anniversary of the day known as ?Black Sunday.? FDNY Lt. Curtis

News 12 Staff

Jan 24, 2009, 12:34 AM

Updated 5,797 days ago

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? Family members and colleagues of two fallen firefighters who jumped to their deaths in 2005 attended a memorial Mass Friday, the fourth anniversary of the day known as ?Black Sunday.?
FDNY Lt. Curtis Meyran and firefighter John Bellew were forced to jump to their deaths after becoming trapped in a raging fire at 234 East 178th St. on Jan. 23, 2005.
Investigators say some tenants in the building built an illegal partition that blocked the fire escape, which created a death trap for the uniformed men.
Officials say six firefighters were forced to jump, only four of them survived.
Dozens of firefighters remembered the sacrifice their fallen brothers made and honored them at the service at St. Joseph?s Church on Bathgate Avenue.
Helmets and pictures of the firefighters rested on the altar as Bellew?s widow and four children packed the front pew.
Eugene Stolowski, one of the four firefighters who survived the four-story fall, spoke to News 12 The Bronx about the incident.
?I am very grateful and very happy to be here. I wasn?t supposed to get out of there,? says Stolowski.
Another survivor, Brendan Cawley, also spoke about the tragic day, and says he is fully recovered and is back to work at Ladder 27.
?Everyday I walk into the fire house and I think of the two guys that were killed that day. They were my motivation to get back to work, and they helped me get back there, I?m thankful for them as well,? says Cawley.
Court is set to resume for the ?Black Sunday? trial on Monday.
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