Bronx Firefighter Recalls Jump During Testimony
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A firefighter who survived jumping out of a burning building that claimed the lives of two fellow firefighters in 2005 took the stand Thursday. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.At times, Brendan Cawley was emotional, other times upset as he testified about the day he and five other firefighters jumped out of the top floor windows of a burning building on 178th Street. Two of them, Lieutenant Curtis Meyran and Fireman John Bellew did not survive.
"To hear he was a young firefighter and he was trapped with no way out. I think about that all the time. It is very difficult to listen to him," said Eddie Brown, Uniformed Firefighters Association.
On January 23, 2005, the firefighters say they couldn't find their way out of a fourth floor apartment because the tenants built illegal partitions to rent out rooms. The tenants and the building landlord are all on trial for manslaughter for having the illegal walls.
"When you add illegal partitions, it changes the game. It is like putting you in a maze and filling it with smoke," said Brown.
During testimony, Firefighter Cawley said, "Big wave of heat blind-sided us. I thought I was going to die, that's for sure."
Clearly some of the firefighters and their family members were very upset with one of the defense attorneys who aggressively cross examined the firefighter about his actions on that tragic day.
"We are used to doing our job and fighting fires on an everyday basis no matter what the situation. But this whole court situation is new to us. And it is difficult for some of our brothers to sit here and get cross examined and almost treated like criminals," said Brown.
"They are out there saving their lives and jumping out of a window and he makes it into a joke," said Bridgette Stolowski, who's husband survived the fall.
The attorney says it's not a joking matter and that he's only defending his client by pointing out firefighters made some deadly errors.
"You are telling me that if you are a firefighter on a floor above where a fire is and you find out that fire is extending from the fire floor into your floor, that there is no water on your floor, that would not tell you, 'you know what, we better get out of here'. That happened 12 minutes before they self-evacuated out of the window," said Defense Attorney David Goldstein.
The attorney says there were radio transmission problems and issues with getting water on the fire during that freezing day.
They're facts he hopes the jury will see were really to blame for what happened.