NY Daily News

FDNY Lt. Howard Carpluk, 43, died yesterday morning at Montefiore Medical Center, a day after he and four colleagues crashed through the floor and into the basement of a burning discount store - trapping them for nearly 90 minutes.

Doctors managed to restart the 20-year FDNY veteran's heart, but he struggled through the night. He died with his wife, Debra; daughter, Paige, 10, and son, Bradley, 14, at his bedside.

"New York City has lost another one of its Bravest," said Mayor Bloomberg, as he spoke of the worst tragedy to hit the FDNY since the 2005 Black Sunday blazes that took the lives of three firefighters.

"For more than 20 years, Lt. Carpluk devoted his life to saving others. When I met with the men of the Engine 42 this morning, they told me how the lieutenant faced each and every challenge before him bravely and unflinchingly. [Sunday] was no different," he said.

Carpluk and probationary Firefighter Michael Reilly, 25, were pulled from the wreckage as fellow firefighters dug through the burning debris by hand for 90 minutes, and snaked oxygen lines in a desperate attempt to keep them alive.

But the weight of the collapsed building proved too much. Reilly died Sunday, unable to breathe as his chest was crushed by the mountains of burning debris, officials said.

Sources said that 10 firefighters atop the one-story building were ordered to come down, just three minutes before parts of the floor and roof collapsed - averting what could have been a far worse tragedy.

The Bravest had rushed into the building to search for civilians, but all employees and customers had already escaped the Mega 99 Cent store.

"That's what we do, day in, day out, 24/7. If there's a fire and there's a chance somebody might be in there we go in," said Chief Robert Sweeney.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta mourned the "heartbreaking loss for the Fire Department."

Reilly's father, Michael, spoke outside the family's Ramsey, N.J., home. "It's a very trying time for us right now," he said. His son, a Marine who served in Iraq before entering the FDNY Academy four months ago, had been home just three days before to visit his parents.

Reilly could have taken a higher-paying job with a Connecticut fire department, but chose the Bronx because he would get to put out more fires, said his ex-girlfriend Andrea Messinel.

"He was so dedicated to it," she said. "If you could ask him how he wanted to die, he would have said this way."

Fire investigators were looking into whether shoddy reconstruction work after a 2000 arson fire at 1575 Walton Ave. led to Sunday's floor collapse. The collapse sent tremors through the Mount Eden building and part of the roof crashed down, sources said.

Firefighters had to throw a rope over one of two air conditioning units on the roof to secure it. One of the units still fell through part of the structure, though it did not reach the first floor, Scoppetta said.

Battalion Chief Thomas Auer, 47, and Lt. John Grasso, 45, who also fell into the basement, were still at Jacobi Medical Center last night. Firefighter Wayne Walters, 30, was released Sunday and headed straight home to his wife, Lisa; son, Tyler, 3, and daughter, Neeve, 1.

"The first thing that he did was kiss his kids," said his sister-in-law Tanya Mc.Kenna.

Reilly's wake will be held tomorrow and Thursday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Van Emburgh-Sneider Funeral Home in Ramsey. A funeral will be held Friday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul Catholic Church in Ramsey.