NY 1

FDNY Rookie Michael Reilly and Lieutenant Howard Carpluk died after the floor of a Bronx store collapsed while they were fighting a blaze on Sunday.

Reilly had only four months on the job when he was killed in the Bronx fire. Before that, he spent a year fighting fires in Iraq after serving for three years with the Stratford, Connecticut, Fire Department.

On NY1's "Inside City Hall" Thursday night, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta sang Reilly's praises, saying the young firefighter was living his dream of becoming one of New York City's Bravest.

"From the time he was 16 years old, he's been working in and around fire houses, first as a volunteer, then as a paid firefighter," said Scoppetta. "Then he was in Iraq with the Marines, found a firefighting unit there that he was attached to, came back and finally his dream came true – he was called to the FDNY."

The Fire Department is still probing the cause of the fire. But Scoppetta suggested faulty wiring may be to blame.

"It seems to be, as of today, that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction behind this row of refrigerators that were in the store," said Scoppetta. "It seems like that's the conclusion we're probably going to come to."

Scoppetta added that construction on the building following an arson fire in 2000 had been "shoddy," possibly leading to the floor collapse.

Carpluk's wake continues today on Long Island. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

NY1's Amanda Farinacci attended Reilly's funeral Friday, and she filed this report.

Church bells tolled amid a sea of blue uniforms as the body of Firefighter Michael Reilly made its way down a quiet New Jersey street, close to where the 25-year-old grew up. The probationary firefighter had only been with the FDNY for four months when he died in a Bronx fire Sunday.

"It's a shame. [He was] a Marine and, it's the kind of guy the Fire Department needs right now," said Firefighter Jim DiMeo. "It's a shame he had to leave so soon."

He may have been a rookie at Engine 75, but Reilly was no stranger to firefighting. Before he got the call from the FDNY, he spent a year fighting fires in Iraq with the Marines.

Before that, he worked with the Stratford, Connecticut, Fire Department for three years.

"Stratford was an interim job basically just until his name came up on the list for New York. That's what he wanted to do, that's where he wanted to be," said Stratford Firefighter James Flannery. "Unfortunately I guess that's where his life ended, but God bless him for that."

Reilly was one of two firefighters who lost their lives in the fire in a 99-cent store last weekend. He and Lieutenant Howard Carpluck were killed when the floor collapsed, leaving them both trapped.

Reilly's sister, Erin, eulogized him, recalling funny stories about him as a boy, and then the serious and dedicated man he became.

His drill instructors at the Fire Academy spent their days trying to force a smile to his face, taunting him for his baby face, asking him if he used a butter knife to shave it.

"They have a tough job because they're all good guys, but it's their job to break you down and try to build you up, and Mike brought our squad together," says Firefighter Matt Crowley, who attended the Fire Academy with Reilly. "We all stepped up and he was very good at that. He took the best qualities we all had to offer and tied them into one, and that was our squad."

A squad of men who will forever remember the young man whose light will forever shine.