2 Firefighters Arrested After 2 Bar Fights

[54Precinct]

February 26, 2006
2 Firefighters Arrested After 2 Bar Fights
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Two off-duty city firefighters were arrested after separate bar fights early yesterday in Manhattan, and both faced charges including assault, the police said.

In the first fight, about 3:30 a.m. at AER Lounge at 409 West 13th Street, one of the firefighters, William Porteus, 27, and three other men assaulted a fifth man, kicking him in the head and causing a cut above his left eye, the police said. The man, who was not identified, was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan and received stitches, the police said, adding that it was not clear how the fight started.

Firefighter Porteus and the other men were arrested half a block away on Ninth Avenue.

A short time later, at Crobar at 530 West 28th Street, another firefighter, Thomas Cappelli, 27, struck an unidentified Massapequa man in the face with a glass after an argument, the police said.

Firefighter Porteus works in a Manhattan firehouse, and has been a firefighter for just over a year, a Fire Department spokesman said. Firefighter Cappelli, who works in a Brooklyn firehouse, has been with the department for almost three years. The spokesman said that any disciplinary action against the two men would follow a department inquiry.

The Fire Department has faced criticism in the past for drinking among its ranks, especially after an alcohol-fueled brawl in a Staten Island firehouse in 2003. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has chided firefighters for off-duty alcohol-related altercations as well, saying they reflect poorly on the city. (Well, Boys will be Boys!)

[E40FDNYL35]

Two women and two young girls were killed early Friday when a fast-moving fire - which investigators say was intentionally set - raced through a four-story apartment building in Brooklyn, fire officials said.
One of the women died when she jumped from the building to the street to escape the flames. Witnesses also reported safely catching several young children, who were tossed from windows on the lower floors.

In addition to those killed, two others were hurt escaping the fire, although the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

The blaze on Pacific Street in the Prospect Heights section was determined to have been set off by an "incendiary device" in a stairway, said firefighter Mike Parrella, a department spokesman.


"It was deliberately set," he said.

Another minor fire broke out in an apartment several blocks away on Friday morning and there was a blaze on the same street last Sunday, but it was still not clear if the fires were related.

"There have been a series of fires that appear at this time to have some similarity, however, we have not made the connection with that," Assistant Fire Chief Howard Hill told reporters at the scene.

The fatal three-alarm fire, which required 138 firefighters, was reported shortly after 5 a.m. and was under control shortly before 7 a.m., Parrella said.

The names of those killed were not immediately released. Autopsies were planned for Saturday, said a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner.

[E40FDNYL35]

Firefighters rescued at least 40 people from a burning Brooklyn building early yesterday after flames raced up a four-story staircase, trapping tenants inside.
The Pacific St., Bedford-Stuyvesant blaze erupted at the base of the stairs about 4:40 a.m., and flames reached the roof within minutes, fire officials said.

With no way out, some tenants banged on their windows for help, while others climbed onto a fire escape.

Firefighters perched on ladders carried 40 residents through windows and down fire escapes as intense flames and smoke filled the hallways.

"I opened the front door and the fire hit me in the face. Then I slammed the door," said Ruth Dunk, 62, whose daughter and brother also escaped. "Thank God everyone got out."

Two firefighters were admitted to Weill Cornell Medical Center with burns. Five others were treated for burns and sprains.

Nearly 140 firefighters got the blaze under control by 8:08a.m. The cause is under investigation.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Ray, right from the beginning, this sounded like an ugly job. Sounds like there was some over the top work by everyone, including the BFI.

[E40FDNYL35]

He's endured flames, smoke and beatings, so how about some tender loving care for this mutt?
Brooklyn firefighters are searching for a good home for Rockaway, a 7-year-old German shepherd/Lab mix they pulled from a fire this month.

Firefighter Tom Sussman, 32, spotted the dog in a ground-floor kitchen during a fire at an East Flatbush home.

"The dog was alive, but he wasn't moving around or anything," said Sussman, of Ladder 174. "The fire was right in the next room and below me."

One woman died in the fire, at Snyder Ave. and E. 35th St. on Feb. 11, the night of the record-breaking snowstorm.

Firefighters left the dog in the yard, but when they returned the next day, it was still there.

"We took it to the vet, who said it was beaten and everything," said Lt. Jim Canty, who added that the dog had a detached retina and is blind in one eye.

The firefighters of Engine 310 and Ladder 174 had decided to keep the dog, chipping in to pay the veterinarian's bill of $500, Canty said.

But it turns out that Rockaway can't stay in the firehouse, nicknamed Snyder Island, because some of the firefighters are allergic.

For now, the dog is staying at Firefighter Pete Brady's apartment.

"He's a good-looking dog, a nice dog," Brady said. "A bit scared, apprehensive toward people. I haven't heard him growl or bark yet."

Anyone interested in adopting Rockaway should stop by the firehouse at 5105 Snyder Ave.

"We all would like to see the dog have a [more permanent] home than where it is right now," said Firefighter Steven Galucci of Engine 310.

[E40FDNYL35]

The vicious firebug who maliciously set the inferno that killed four people in Bedford-Stuyvesant may be linked to a fatal blaze up the block in December, The Post has learned.

Authorities are now looking at nearly a half-dozen possible arsons on the residential street in the past several months, sources told The Post.

"They're all suspicious," said one source.

On Friday morning, a three-alarm blaze killed four people, including two children and their mother at 1033 Pacific St. That fire, officials say, was intentionally set in a stairwell at 5:17 a.m.

Twenty-five minutes later, another fire broke out at 1162 Pacific St. — just two blocks away. Officials say that blaze was also intentionally set.

Authorities are also investigating a suspicious fire last Sunday morning that started on the first floor of an apartment building a few blocks east of Friday's blazes, which injured nine people, including seven firefighters.

Although both of Friday's fires were started with flammable liquids in the buildings' stairwells, a FDNY spokesman yesterday dismissed any link, echoing an earlier assertion.

"There is no reason to believe that these separate fires are connected," the agency said Friday.

But the spokesman insisted both fires were the subjects of "active and aggressive investigations."

Privately, however, investigators — and many Bed-Stuy smoke-eaters who battled these blazes — think they are dealing with a dangerous arsonist or even several arsonists.

Before last week's blazes, officials began looking for a "person of interest" who was seen leaving the scene of a Dec. 7 inferno at 1084 Pacific St. that killed a squatter.

The person is described as a black man, between 25 and 30, about 6 feet tall and weighing about 170.

An eight-block segment of Pacific Street where the three fires last week and in December took place has been a hotbed of suspicious blazes, said a law-enforcement source.

Other fires have occurred at 1419 Pacific St. and at 1550 Pacific St.

An FDNY spokesman refused to say if the department has determined causes for any of the earlier blazes.

Residents of the mile-long stretch are terrified.

"It looks like someone has been targeting Pacific Street," said Othello Simmonds. "This has to be a real sicko."

Despite the recent spate of blazes, none compared to Friday's, which caused the death of four people.

Witnesses and officials said that as residents fled the building, two children were trapped inside.

The children's mother, Assita Koulibaly, 36, died trying to rescue her kids.

Her husband, Kessoum Fofana, 43, was also critically injured jumping from a window, but the hospital upgraded his condition to stable.

Relatives told The Post they haven't been able to break the news to him that his family was killed.

All three died and a fourth woman, Sherrie Williams, 24, was killed when she was forced to jump from the fourth floor.

[E229Lt]

Three men were arrested last night in seperate incidents. One involving a drunken brawl, another for assaulting his estranged wife and a third for driving while intoxicated.
Because their jobs were boring we, the media, choose to ignore the stories.

In other news "An Off Duty Firefighter" was caught Jay Walking on 2nd Avenue last night............

[mark440]

Looks like 54Precinct has a chip...


*Mark

[SamsonFCDES]

What a strange thread...

Were the drunk bar brawlers on thoese fires or something?

Not picking up what you are putting down here guys.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Three men were arrested last night in seperate incidents. One involving a drunken brawl, another for assaulting his estranged wife and a third for driving while intoxicated.
Because their jobs were boring we, the media, choose to ignore the stories.

In other news "An Off Duty Firefighter" was caught Jay Walking on 2nd Avenue last night............

That's what happens when mutt reporters are let loose on the streets...

Looks like 54Precinct has a chip...

Ya think?


Meanwhile, while Precinct 54 posts his anti firefighter drivel on this forum from his laptop computer in his radio car.... Dispatch is looking for him...


There's a hold up in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights.
There's a traffic jam in Harlem
That's backed up to Jackson Heights.
There's a scout troup short a child,
Kruschev's due at Idlewild
Car 54, Where Are You?

[RspctFrmCalgary]

My understanding is whenever someone posts a news article that reflects badly on FDNY, Ray counters with news articles that highlight the GOOD that has been done by FDNY, which as we all know, often gets overlooked by the media.


Ray, whatever happened to that thread you started to counteract the "bad" news articles? I always enjoyed that thread.

[mark440]

What a strange thread...

Were the drunk bar brawlers on thoese fires or something?

Not picking up what you are putting down here guys.

1 Negative
4 Positive
That is just in this thread, many many more positives than there are negatives.

54Precinct, don't you have a building you can go shake the knobs on?
Are you on the FDNY waiting list?

*Mark

[ChiefReason]

The article came from the New York Times.
Though I don't know if it was front page news, keep in mind that 54Precinct simply posted it here.
And Sheri's right. Someone takes it to the head with a negative story and Ray counters to the body with a positive story.
Firefighters with one and three years on might not understand that they will be newsmakers as long as they wear the uniform.
Did anyone happen to catch the occupations of the victims?
For some reason, I can't find that in the article.
CR

[cdemarse]

Its funny you never see
2 construction works arrested in bar fight or
2 Plumbers arrested in a bar fight


Firefighters are human too.

[FyredUp]

I am a big fan of the FDNY. Their people are human like everyone else. They make mistakes in both aspects of their lives, firefighting and in the real world.

Interestingly enough so does EVERY other firefighter and fire department. The funny part to me is this...the FDNY is given a wide bearth by many on there forums for whatever indiscretion occurs, but some of those same people will not give a 1/100 of a milimeter to other FD's. The outcry of he was off duty, or if he was a garbage man we never would see this, or wait til all the facts come out, appears to be selectively applied over and over and over on these forums.

I will not even begin to pretend to question the skill, bravery and aggressive style of firefighting the FDNY does. But I will also not stand by and pretend to not see the double standard of crusifying some FD's and some firefighters here and the aparent hands off mentality for others.

FyredUp

[E40FDNYL35]

FyredUp you are 100% right.

[E229Lt]

He is??????????????????

[FyredUp]

E40FDNYL35

FyredUp you are 100% right.

WOW! I will admit I assumed I would be totally flamed for my comments. Thank you for understanding what I meant and not taking it as an attack on the Brave members of the FDNY.

My career FD has had more than enough bad press in the past few years regarding off duty BS by several of our members, so I understand how broadly the brush stroke paints the entire FD.

Take care and stay safe,

FyredUp

[E40FDNYL35]

He is??????????????????

I think he is Artie. I see some of these topics on here and rise an eyebrow. But I wont comment. Only if it effects my Department. Is that wrong?

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Bearing in mind what my background is, this may be a surprising post. But do you suppose that 54Precinct might be able to run some sort of search on his computer to figure out how many NYPD members drove drunk, got into bar fights, shot out some street lights then went home to beat the crap out of his wife?

This is not an anti-cop post, obviously. But a cop is certainly not a person to start throwing rocks at abhorent off-duty behavior. The only thing that keeps them out of the papers is Badge Americard.