By:Jason Scheer and Brian Zanzonico
Malverne resident Lt. Curtis Meyran, 46, a member of Battalion 26 in the Bronx, was one of six firefighters who rushed to the fourth floor of a building on the corner of East 178th Street and Grand Concourse after hearing that tenants were trapped.
"When the fire from the third floor broke through to the fourth, they were faced with the horrifying choice of either jumping out the fourth-floor window or being burned to death," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. "They jumped knowing they would be critically injured."
Officials said that the fire, which broke out at about 8 a.m., stemmed from a malfunctioning electrical cord on a portable heater.
Meyran and fellow firefighter John Bellew, 37, of Ladder 27, were taken to St. Barnabas hospital after they jumped from the building, and were pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Fire officials said that Meyran, a 15-year veteran, is normally assigned to Battalion 26 but was working on Ladder 27 for the day.
Firefighter Richard Sclafani, 37, was killed in a separate incident in East New York, Brooklyn, on Sunday.
Four other firefighters from Ladder 27 and Rescue Company 3 were critically injured in the Bronx fire. According to the FDNY Web site, firefighters Joseph DiBernardo and Jeffrey Cool of Rescue 3 and Eugene Stolowski and Brendan Cawley of Ladder 27 jumped from a fourth-floor window, along with Meyran and Bellew, after they became trapped above the fire. DiBernardo was transported to Jacobi Hospital. The other three firefighters were transported to St. Barnabas Hospital.
Meyran and Bellew were the 1,129th and 1,130th New York City firefighters to die in the line of duty in the department's 142-year history, according to the Web site.
Meyran, who graduated North in 1976, joined the department in November 1989, and was cited for bravery while working at Ladder 161 in 1991 and again while at Ladder 123 in 1997. He is survived by his wife, Janette, and their children, Dennis, Danine and Angela. His brother, Dennis, lives across the street from the family in Malverne. Family members could not be reached for comment.
Meyran will be waked at the Krauss Funeral Home on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square on Thursday and Friday. The funeral Mass is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Malverne.
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