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Fair Governor signs Brady Bill
Amended legislation, named for Malverne firefighter, makes state memorial more inclusive
A month after the State Senate passed a new version of a bill ordering that the name of late Malverne firefighter Paul Brady be added to a memorial wall in Albany, Governor Cuomo signed the legislation into law.
The Brady Bill, signed by Cuomo on July 12, states that any firefighter who is killed while serving in any capacity in the line of duty will be added to the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the Empire State Plaza in Albany. The memorial is dedicated to more than 2,000 firefighters who have died while on the job.
“The Fallen Firefighters Memorial honors the lives of our state’s bravest men and women who died while protecting others,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement. “Every firefighter who has paid the ultimate sacrifice while protecting their community deserves to be recognized for their courage and heroic service. This new law will ensure that New York state properly recognizes the extraordinary sacrifice of all firefighters who died while putting their lives on the line, and that their memory is preserved forever.”
The bill was written after Brady, 42, a volunteer firefighter, died while on duty in the Malverne firehouse in July 2006. He was accidentally crushed to death while doing routine maintenance on the roof of a rescue truck. A fellow volunteer, unaware that Brady was on top of the truck, drove it out of the building, trapping Brady in a 5-inch clearance between the truck and a ceiling beam. He suffered internal injuries and died later at Nassau University Medical Center.
Since then, the Malverne F.D. has fought to have Brady’s name added to the memorial wall, but was denied five times by the memorial’s selection committee, even though state and federal law recognized Brady’s death as having happened in the line of duty. His name is inscribed in the U.S. Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Maryland.
The Malverne F.D. appealed to Nassau County Supreme Court after the State Fallen Firefighters Memorial Appeals Committee denied the department’s request in August 2010 to have Brady’s name added to the wall. In March 2011, however, the court, without a hearing, denied the petition.
