NYC Firefighter Shares Black Sunday Experience with Matawan Borough Fire Department

Eugene Stolowski remembers walking through a New York City apartment on a fire call for about twenty minutes without seeing flames, only light smoke on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005. 

There was no excessive heat in the apartment either. He left his ears uncovered and a fellow firefighter left his mask off as they searched for occupants.

"Barely any smoke, no heat at all. Until the very end. Boom at the very end. And we were out of this building," Stolowski, a New York City Firefighter who belonged to Ladder 27 in 2005.

The "boom" he is referring to is the eight seconds it took for a light smoke condition to accelerate into the powerful flames and extreme heat that forced him and five other members to jump from windows on the fourth story of an apartment building into a small concrete alley.

"Not once did I see one bit flame in that apartment. I did not see one lick of flame. I was forced out of that apartment by the heat. I know when I was at the window it was blowing over the top of my head," he said. "I had such tunnel vision at that point I didn't know it was there."

Stolowski remembers almost every second of his time inside of the apartment, and retraced his steps for members of the Matawan Borough Fire Department on Mar. 4 at as part of their continuous training and education. 

According to Stolowski, when he entered the apartment on the fourth floor, which was the floor above where the fire started, the firefighters did not see any flames, only a light smoke. The apartment was illegally subdivided to create five single occupency rooms where tenants shared a kitchen and a bathroom. Stolowski said they later found that twenty five people had been living in four of the five rooms.

The fourth bedroom at the back right hand side of the apartment (see diagram) was blocked from sight by an illegal partition wall and was being used by the tenants for storage. The hallway to the fourth bedroom was blocked by a refrigerator, and the fire escape was located outside of the hallway and fourth bedroom windows.

The fire burned through the floor of the fourth bedroom, were it remained for a long time, Stolowski said. Once it reached a certain temperature, the bedroom door disintegrated and fire came barrelling down the hallway along the partition wall, through the kitchen, down into the bathroom and into the rooms that each of the firefighters had been standing in, blocking them from exiting the apartment.

The excessive heat forced them to lean out the window, and eventually to jump. Two of the firefighters died on impact, and three others suffered severe injuries, including Stolowski.

"I died in the backyard," Stolowski said. The fall caused his knee to hit his chin in such a way that he interally decapitated himself. EMS on the scene were able to revive him, and now he has metal rods holding his head in place and metal replacing and stablizing his pelvis and the bones below his knees.

Stolowski wasn't just there to share his story. Stolowski pointed out that if the men had rescue gear, such as ropes and an anchor, they may have been able to safely lower themselves from the building - or at least lower themselves out of the flames until they could be rescued. Ever since Sunday, Jan. 25, 2005, which has become known as Black Sunday, firefighters have been given personal safety equipment that allows them to belay out of a window.

Capt. Rich Michitsch of Midway Hook & Ladder reminded the department that although Black Sunday was in New York, it can happen anywhere.

"How many apartments have we gone to down at 90 main street where we have multiple families living in the different places, changing the number of people who need to be rescued. Although this happened in New York, we're in it right here. It's here whether you believe it or not. Let's just take heed," said Michitsch.

Editor's note: For an indepth look at Black Sunday and the series of small events that led to the men jumping, read this article in NY Magazine.