Three firefighters severely injured in a Staten Island house fire plan to sue New York City, charging that a long-standing FDNY policy of shutting down firehouses for medical checkups delayed the response and set the stage for near-fatal conditions.
Nearly two dozen firefighters were injured in the blaze, but Lt. Bill Doody and Firefighter William Guidera, both of Ladder Company 84, and Firefighter Kwabena Brentuo, of Engine Company 168, came very close to dying in the blaze.
All three became trapped in the single-family home on Shotwell Ave. near Tryon Ave. in Annadale around 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 17, according to official accounts and legal filings.
Ladder Company 167 was the closest firehouse to the home, but all its personnel were at FDNY headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn getting their annual medical exams, as mandated by agency policy, according to Andreas Koutsoudakis, the lawyer for the three men.
The lack of support due to the closest engine company being out of service left the responding firefighters shorthanded, the lawyer said, jeopardizing lives.
“It’s a cascading effect, where you take one company out of service for a medical or education day,” Koutsoudakis said.
“And now the surrounding companies have to pick up their fires,” he added. “That kind of compounds the issue.”
On top of the staffing issue, heavy winds made the fire difficult from the beginning.
Brentuo’s engine company was first on the scene and by that point, two houses were engulfed with flames in the rear, where both units had detached structures.
Initially, firefighters aimed their nozzles at 84 Shotwell Ave, because the direction of the wind lead firefighters to believe that the blaze started in that home. Little did they know that the fire was growing and spreading quickly in the back of 88 Shotwell, where it had started due to an electrical malfunction.
A third engine company that had been dispatched to the scene got in…
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