The Jersey Journal

RAMAPO - And just like that, it went from good to bad.

In the span of 23 seconds, an intense heat blasted through the fourth floor of the Bronx building, forcing six New York Fire Department firefighters deeper into an illegally converted apartment.

Finding themselves with no options but to burn to death or to fall nearly 50 feet to the concrete pavement below, the men jumped.

Two died; four survived, but with emotional and physical scars that will never heal.

Last night, three of those survivors - Jeffery Cool, Eugene Stolowski and Brendan Cawley - gave a candid and emotional multimedia presentation at the Rockland County Fire Training Center about what has been dubbed "Black Sunday."

Some will most likely never fight another fire, but standing at the head of the auditorium, the three said they wanted to make sure that those in the audience could continue to do it.

"I remember thinking, 'I ain't dying in this apartment,' " said Stolowski of Florida, N.Y., who was given a 5 percent chance of ever walking again. "The only way out was the window."

Nearly two years after they were forced to jump from the four-story building, the three men discussed that winter morning and spoke about the need for every firefighter, paid and volunteer, throughout the country to be equipped with fire safety ropes.

Almost a year after the January 2005 deaths of John Bellew of Pearl River and Lt. Curtis Meyran, the FDNY began issuing safety ropes to the department's 11,000 firefighters, a move officials hoped would prevent safety disasters. Another firefighter, Joseph Di Bernardo, survived the fall but did not attend last night's presentation.

The new rope, made of Kevlar, is lighter and less cumbersome than ropes used in the past and connects to a safety harness on the firefighter's pants. Research and development of the system cost $11 million. The equipment will allow firefighters to escape from a window in 10 seconds.

"I just remember standing there, and I got scorched in the face with heat. I thought my face had melted off," recalled Cawley, who had been with the FDNY only four weeks. "When your life's on the line, it's either burn or hopefully try to survive. We saw the window, and we did what we had to do."

Many in the audience of more than 300 - emergency service workers and firefighters from as far as Kansas - sat with their heads bowed and listened to the frantic fire calls made that day as firefighters realized how dire the situation was.

"A whole company just jumped out of the building," a voice screamed. "One-two-three-four-five-six! We need EMS! We need EMS!"

Early this week, Cool, 38, said that rather than endorse one personal safety device over another, he wanted to focus on making sure all firefighters had the proper equipment and training to do their job.

"As much as we know about the chemistry of fire, fire can take a bad turn," he said, seated in his Garnerville home. "I hold this very near and dear to my heart. I'm a broken firefighter. My whole life I was a firefighter. It was cut short. This is what I can give to the fire service. I can't fight fires anymore, but I can fight for legislation to protect firefighters."

With the same tenacity and determination he showed in the recovery room at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx and later at Helen Hayes Hospital, Cool said he was actively trying to find a way to get federal funding to pay for the rope system, which could cost $300 to $600 per firefighter.

It's a new field for Cool, who was an FDNY firefighter for 14 years, a volunteer with the West Haverstraw Fire Department since he was 18 and who last year retired from the Air National Guard after 20 years.

"I'm not a politician," the father of two sons said. "I've been told I have a two- to three-year battle on my hands. I'm not stopping. I'm going to keep pushing and pushing. I'm not the most godly man. But God left me here for a reason and if this is my calling, then this is my calling."

It was fire safety rope, in part, Cool said, that saved his life that morning. He used his own rope to escape the burning building but still fell onto a concrete staircase. The other men fell less than 10 feet away from him.

Because of pending litigation, the surviving firefighters said they can't speak about the fire at length.

Cool said the firefighters plan to speak again in February at a fire safety expo in San Diego in hopes of garnering more attention that will eventually lead to new federal regulations regarding safety ropes. The money they raise goes to memorial funds established by the families of the firefighters who died in the fall.

"This (is) for the Bellew and Meyran families," he said. "Nothing will bring them back. The four of us, our lives are changed forever. But they lost a husband, a soul mate, a dad and a best friend. We do it for them."