Sunday, April 11, 1999
As the skirl of bagpipes filled the air, scores of firefighters milled about a Manhattan church yesterday, reliving a tragic event the pain of which has not diminished five years later.
It has been a half-decade since three firefighters were killed in a March 28, 1994, fire on Watts St. in SoHo; Firefighter James Young died almost immediately after the blaze, and Firefighter Christopher Siedenburg died a day later.
Capt. John Drennan hung on 40 days before finally succumbing, his heroic battle to survive memorialized at a funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Yesterday, the three members of Engine Co. 24 and Ladder Co. 5 were remembered at a Mass at St. Anthony’s of Padua Church, two blocks from their firehouse.
“These were great guys, and hopefully they’ll continue to be remembered,” said Capt. Pat Ruddick, who was a lieutenant under Drennan until he became a captain three days before the fire. “I know, for myself, that a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about them. Even now.”
For the families, the years have not made their loss easier to take.
Eddie Young, 38, said he was gratified at all the people who came to pay their respects to his brother James and his fallen comrades.
“We miss him too much,” said Young, holding his 3-year-old son James. “I guess being here today makes you remember that he’s not here anymore.”
“I’m proud that we named him after my brother,” Young added. “My brother is a great man, and we’ll always have my son to remind us of him.”
Bob Drennan, 47, said he was consoled by the priest’s words that his brother was in Heaven.
As hard as it was for him to deal with losing his brother, he felt just as keenly the deaths of Siedenburg and Young, Drennan said.
“They were so young, just starting out, really,” he said.
His brother, he said, packed so much into his life it seemed he lived two and half lives.
As a reception began in the church basement after the Mass, scores of firefighters ran out to answer an emergency call.
“You can’t think about the tragedies,” Ruddick said. “If you go out with this constantly in your mind, it’s going to hinder your ability to work. We just come to work and do our job everyday.”
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