12 THE QUEENS COURIER •JANUARY 3, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com persons of the year s SPARKS IN THE DARK Roxbury Volunteer Fire Department Chief recounts Breezy Point fi re BY ALEXA ALTMAN who could put water on the fi re,” she [email protected] said. “None of the other departments could — I just kept praying these guys It began as a glow to the west, a were OK — that was a scary night.” speck of twinkling amber light in the Several hours into fi ghting the fi re, darkness. From the loft above the trucks began disappearing. Drivers Roxbury Volunteer Fire Department’s left their men standing in the watery station, the crew watched as the fl icker inferno, confused. The pump used became a blaze, carrying a once charm- to harness seawater broke. City fi re ing beachfront neighborhood into the departments had fi nally arrived, draft- night sky in embers and smoke. ing water with their rigs. With the blaze “Oh my God,” they said. “Breezy’s contained, Colleran and his men made burning.” their way back to their station house, By dawn, the Breezy Point fi re con- exhausted. They didn’t have to make sumed over 120 homes, displacing any rescues or pull anyone from the hundreds during the most devastating fi re. There were no lives lost. For that, storm to hit the East Coast in years. The they were thankful. Roxbury Volunteer Fire Department Since the storm, the Roxbury was one of the fi rst outfi ts to respond Volunteer Fire Department has to the fi re — the most destructive one been running a makeshift mini-mart, Chief Richard Colleran had witnessed stocking shelves of baby formula, in more than four decades of service. chips and bottled water for locals Sandy provided unexpected com- in need. Construction paper pen- plications for the volunteer compa- nants and cards, scribbled with magic ny. Around 6:25 p.m. on Monday, marker offer pleas of strength and October 29, water entered the hope from students in the surround- fi rehouse. Within 15 min- climbing fl ames. ing New York area. utes, the tide rose up to their “The fi re was around us and all over “Stay strong!” some say. “Don’t give knees. Colleran ordered his the place. I don’t know how many up hope.” 12 remaining crew members houses were gone at the time,” Colleran Fifteen families have called the sta- to the studio apartment- said. tion house “home” for the past few sized room above the sta- Back at the Roxbury Fire Station, months, sleeping in the same loft where tion where they watched Colleran’s wife Mary watched the the staff watched the fi re. Every day, the fi re as it grew larger. Then, blaze, terrifi ed. the lunch crowd for Mary Colleran’s they lost all communication. “The scary thing was these guys ribs and sausages grows smaller. “We didn’t know how high the were the only Richard Colleran used to monitor how fi re was going to get or when it o n e s many visitors stopped in by how many was going to stop,” said Colleran. times he needed to refi ll the coffee pot. One of the fi refi ghters, a dis- The number has dwindled as the dis- patcher with the FDNY, sent a distress placed fi nd refuge elsewhere. signal to alert the borough’s dispatch It will be months before Richard center about the expanding inferno. and Mary Colleran return to their Helpless, all they could do was wait home on the bayfront in Roxbury, and watch as the glow off in the dis- which swallowed over six feet of tance crept closer. water, lost its deck and suffered a Around 10 p.m., the fl ood receded cracked foundation. Their furni- enough to move the trucks from the ture is gone and their insurance station. The water-logged engines took won’t cover any of it. several tries to start before sputtering Regarded as extraordinary, on, gurgling under the weight of sev- the veteran fi refi ghter said eral feet of ocean. The crew members he did not feel his actions jumped on their soaked trucks and during the fi re warranted moved towards the blaze. herculean praise. At 8th and Ocean Avenues, the nexus “They were calling of the fl ash, the Roxbury Department him a hero,” said met with members of Rockaway Point Mary. Volunteer Fire Company, who at the “Oh? Nah, just mercy of the tide were left without doing what we equipment. Broken water mains and do,” Colleran defunct hydrants led Colleran and his said. “I just went men to draft seawater from where they down there to stood using a fl oating strainer and do whatever I suction — a piece of equipment that could do. I’ve no other fi re company in the area been trying to owned. They came in from the north help people side, attacking the fi re to ensure it for years did not spread any further. Propane and I’m still barbecue tanks and transformers going to help burst like cherry bombs around people.” the fi refi ghters who sprayed the
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