NY Daily News-March 1, 2005-
A firefighter injured in the Bronx blaze that killed two of his fellow Bravest in January plans to sue the city for unspecified damages, his lawyer said yesterday.
Attorney Michael Block said the city’s failure to provide safety ropes for his client, Firefighter Eugene Stolowski, caused the 33-year-old dad to be grievously injured in the Jan. 23 blaze.
Stolowski – whose wife, Brigid, is due to give birth to twin girls – suffered a serious spinal cord injury when he and five other firefighters leaped from a burning building in Tremont. Two of those who jumped, Lts. Curtis Meyran and John Bellew, were killed.
For years, the FDNY provided its firefighters with personal safety ropes – a practice the agency ended around 2000 amid complaints the ropes were too heavy.
Stolowski spent a month in the hospital, where he underwent successful emergency surgery to reattach his spine to his skull. He is now at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J., where doctors have said he has about a 30% chance of walking again.
Since the blaze, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta has said the FDNY will provide safety ropes for all firefighters.