Fallen firefighters called veterans who didn't shy from risks
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The two firefighters killed yesterday in the blaze that destroyed Ebenezer Baptist Church were longtime veterans who had faced down death in the line of duty before and who had rescued their colleagues from other fires.
Tony Tye, Post-Gazette
An injured firefighter is taken from the scene of yesterday's blaze that destroyed Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Hill District.
Battalion Chief Charles Brace, 55, of Brookline and firefighter Richard Stefanakis, 51, of Knoxville, had worked for the city fire department since the early 1970s knowing "the beast can take you at any time," said Joe King, president of Fire Fighters Union Local 1.
King, who knew both men because they all started at about the same time, also said he'd never seen so many firefighters -- at least 27 -- injured in a single blaze. Five of those were in critical condition last night.
King said that when Brace joined the force in 1973, he was assigned to a station in Manchester. They would relieve each other, King working daylight, Brace at night. They'd kid each other about who was doing a better job, King recalled.
Brace, battalion chief for the 4th District headquartered on the South Side, began yesterday at the Uptown fire station at 1334 Forbes Ave., helping 160 firefighters don their dress uniforms for the St. Patrick's Day Parade.
King was there, too, and the last words Brace said to him were, "Hey prez, I just made you a fresh pot of coffee," the union president recalled last night.
Later, at the fire scene at 2001 Wylie Ave. in the Hill District, King and some of the firefighters whom Brace had helped get dressed dug through the church rubble for his body.
They threw off their crisp uniforms and pulled on the protective suits that had been removed from the injured firefighters.
Firefighters were ordered out of the church about 9:25 a.m. because the fire was spreading too quickly.
King said that at some point around noon, Brace and possibly Stefanakis went inside the church to decide where to place unmanned hoses to "surround and drown'' the remaining flames. That is one of the jobs of a battalion chief, King said.
Suddenly, the steeple area of the church fell in, burying Brace and other firefighters.
Brace was commended in 1997 for his actions in another church fire. William J. Tangalos, president of the parish council at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, praised Brace for leading the effort to save the church altar from a fire there.
King explained that often, even though no one is in a church, as was the case yesterday, firefighters go inside to try to save precious religious items, such as scrolls in a synagogue or a valuable organ.
Stefanakis started his career in 1972 at the old fire station at 344 Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown.
When that closed in 1992, he moved to the No. 3 station at 14th Street and Penn Avenue in the Strip District.
"We had a couple of fires together," King said, "we watched each other's back and got each other out.
"There was no hesitation in the man. If you were going in, he would go in behind you. He was never one to step away from a risky situation."
One time, King fell from a ladder when his hands froze up. Stefanakis yelled, "There's one coming," to another firefighter, the late Mike Suska, and Suska managed to catch King, probably saving his life.
Because Stefanakis worked Downtown much of his career, it would have been his job to fight particularly dangerous blazes in tall buildings, King said.
"These are guys who live on the edge," King said. "After it is all over, the next day, you visit that structure and say, 'My God, I was there,' and start realizing, 'I could have gotten seriously hurt in this thing.' "
King said both of the men who died were married and had children.
He said firefighters were at the homes last night, comforting the families.
Within minutes of the steeple collapse, firefighters knew Brace and Stefanakis were seriously injured because they could not be reached on their radios, King said.
After the 1995 Bricelyn Street fire in Brushton in which three trapped firefighters died, the department improved its communication system.
Now, after a certain period of time, if a firefighter does not check in, "We know we have to find them," King said.
First Published March 14, 2004 12:00 am
