by Jerry Burke
Over the weekend, the street where Kiefer grew up was renamed in his honor by the Town of Hempstead. Pine Street will now sport a green sign saying, "FDNY FF MICHAEL KIEFER ST."
Many residents of the new Kiefer Street attended the town's dedication, as did Councilmen Jim Darcy and Joseph Kearney. Kiefer's family -- his mother, Pat, his father, Bud, his sister Kerri and his fiancee, Jamie Huggler -- were also on hand for the dedication.
Kiefer joined Ladder 132 only nine months before his death, but according to his colleagues, he had been a firefighter since birth. He belonged to the Franklin Square Volunteer Fire Department as well as the Freeport and Hempstead departments. Fighting fires was not enough to satisfy Kiefer's urge to protect people, so he also became a lifeguard in Long Beach.
Joining the New York City Fire Department had always been Kiefer's dream. At his funeral last July, his sister Lauren recalled how, at a young age, her brother would stage mock fires with smoke bombs in their shed on Pine Street and test his little sister's ability to rise to the challenge. Lauren was promoted up the ranks of Kiefer's Firehouse according to the skill she showed in rescuing her doll from each smoky inferno.
After high school, Kiefer attended John Jay College in Manhattan because of its Fire Department cadet program, and went on to become an emergency medical service worker to help speed his path toward firefighting.
"He was confident, sensitive and idealistic," said Father Thomas Groenewold, pastor of Kiefer's home parish, St. Catherine of Sienna. "He lived his calling and died saving others." He had been an altar boy at St. Catherine's, and had also become a Eucharistic minister at the parish. He attended Mass every week. "Michael had a short life, but it was a full and rich life," said Groenewold. "He fulfilled his calling. He did his best."
Firehouses where Kiefer worked while completing his probation didn't want to see "Kiefer the Keeper" go at the end of his tour. "He was a 25-year-old proby with 25 years of experience," said fellow firefighter Mark Holstrom.
