January 2, 2004 -- A New Year's Eve firehouse brawl left one Staten Island firefighter hospitalized with a broken jaw and serious head wounds and another behind bars, authorities said yesterday. Police and Fire department investigators were looking into the shocking violence between brother firefighters - and a possible cover-up attempt, in which more than eight hours went by before the incident was reported to cops.
Police found no alcohol but are investigating whether the flare-up could have been fueled by New Year's Eve drinking.
The fight occurred at around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday at Engine Co. 151 in Tottenville, as firefighters who were changing shifts sat around a table talking and joking in a kitchen area.
The group included Bob Walsh, 40, who was getting off work, and Michael Silvestri, 41, who was just starting his shift, sources said.
At one point, Walsh, who was seated at the table, said something that angered Silvestri - who picked up a chair and raised it as if to hit the other firefighter, authorities said.
Their friends thought Silvestri was joking - but suddenly, he swung the chair "like a baseball bat" and hit Walsh across the face, according to a relative of Walsh who spoke to some of the firefighters.
Walsh's brother Jim, 42, said, "There was some verbal horseplay going on between him and Silvestri. My brother said something that hit a nerve and the guy picked up a chair. Everyone was laughing, they thought he was kidding around." But then, Silvestri smashed the chair into Walsh's face like "he was swinging for the fences," the brother said.
"[Bob] didn't even go to protect himself, and no one thought [Silvestri] would swing it, and then my brother was on the floor.
"With that one swing, the guy threw away his whole career for something stupid. Who knows what was going through his head. The other guys are in shock. They can't believe he did something like this."
Walsh, who is 6-foot-8 and 330-pounds, was knocked to the floor, bleeding.
Other firefighters, including the house's top officer, Capt. Terrence Sweeney, helped him into a car and drove him to Staten Island University Hospital.
Walsh, an eight-year FDNY veteran, walked into the emergency room under his own power, but he was soon taken to the intensive-care unit. Yesterday, he was in critical but stable condition and on a respirator, in what the family described as a medically induced coma.
Jim Walsh said his brother had deep cuts to his face, a broken jaw, a broken and gashed nose and a broken eye socket, and will have to undergo extensive surgery.
Investigators said the firefighters who brought Walsh to the hospital told doctors he got hurt falling down stairs - but the severity of his injuries made doctors suspicious, and they called FDNY headquarters at around 11:30 p.m. to tell them an injured firefighter had been brought in.
It's not clear when Sweeney informed his superiors of the fight - and sources said he told probers that Walsh did not, at first, appear to be badly hurt.
Police were not notified until about 3:30 a.m., when a fire marshal walked into the local precinct and told officers that they ought to look into what had happened at Engine Co. 151.
At about 5:30 a.m., officials said, Sweeney, who had gone home, was told to return to the firehouse, where he met with NYPD detectives.
Sweeney told Walsh's family that the firefighters in the house were not cooperating with cops - and that he warned his men they could lose their jobs if they didn't say what happened.
That prompted several of the men to tell police that Silvestri hit Walsh with the chair - and cops charged him with assault.
Silvestri, a firefighter since 1988, was suspended without pay.
"It may have started off fooling and then got serious," FDNY spokesman Jack Thompson said. "He probably didn't mean to hurt him that severely, but that's what happened."
Top FDNY brass were in the house yesterday, talking with the firefighters.
They wanted to know why it took so long to notify department chiefs and the police - and whether booze was involved.
Investigators said tests on Walsh showed he did not have elevated levels of alcohol in his bloodstream.
It wasn't clear what Walsh said that sparked the violence. One source said the two do not get along, and often spar verbally.
But people who knew Silvestri, who at 6-foot-1 is much smaller than Walsh, said they were surprised that he would attack another firefighter.
"He's not a confrontational type of guy," said Joe Albunio, 48, a friend.
"He was studying so that he could move up in rank in the department. That's his life. This is not a guy who would get physical. He's not a fighting guy."
Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese and Neil Graves
