June 16, 2003 -- Three city firefighters who were killed in a building explosion on Father's Day two years ago were honored in a Queens street-renaming ceremony yesterday.
Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace" as the children of firefighters John Downing, Brian Fahey and Harry Ford unveiled the street signs renaming a two-block stretch of Astoria Boulevard after their fathers.
"Long before September 11, 2001, firefighters were sacrificing for New Yorkers," said Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, who represents the area.
The three firefighters were killed when a five-alarm blaze set off an explosion in the basement of a Queens hardware store.
Ford, 50, and Downing, 40, were killed when the building's roof came crashing down. Fahey, 46, died after being trapped in the basement. AP
