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Rookie
Fireman, 27, Dies By BILL EGBERT, RICHARD WEIR and MICHELE McPHEE
Michael Gorumba, 27, the father of a 2-year-old son, became the fifth firefighter to die in the line of duty this year. "Just tell them how much he loved his job," Gorumba's girlfriend, Lori Campbell, who is pregnant with their second child, told fire officials when asked how the firefighter would want to be remembered. Mayor Giuliani said Gorumba, who grew up in Brooklyn and lived on Staten Island, had "realized his dream" of joining the "greatest department in the world" six months ago. Officials said Gorumba, who had a childhood heart murmur, passed a Fire Department physical in 1998 as well as a physical and a stress test last year. Dr. David Prezant, the department's chief medical officer, said Gorumba had an irregular heartbeat, which he called "a common abnormality" that was no apparent cause for concern. He added that the muscular, 5-foot-9, 200-pound firefighter had "excellent exercise capacity."
Gorumba was stricken just 11 months after his father, Ray, 58, suffered a fatal heart attack while playing paddleball near his Brooklyn home. It appeared the younger Gorumba, of Engine 163, suffered his heart attack while helping feed a hose line into the smoke-filled L&S Collision shop on Rector St., officials said. Gorumba was positioned behind the nozzleman as the "backup man" whose job was to anchor the heavy hose as firefighters hauled it into the North Shore garage, sources said. "It's a very strenuous position," said a high-ranking fire official, who declined to be identified. "He began to feel ill inside the fire, came outside to sit on the rig, and just collapsed." Gorumba, a trained emergency medical technician who had recently applied to moonlight as a paramedic at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Staten Island, was pronounced dead there. Four other firefighters and one paramedic were also injured battling the body shop blaze, which started about 2:30 p.m. None of those injuries was life-threatening. "The fire was huge," said witness Mike Anzalone. "One second you saw a few flames, the next thing you know, the whole building was on fire." The cause of the fire wasn't immediately clear, but officials said the flames were fueled by paint and other flammable liquids stored in the garage. The blaze was declared under control at 3:30 p.m. Fire officials said that before joining the FDNY, Gorumba was a Transit Authority track worker and a security guard. But his proudest day came when he graduated from the Fire Academy in February. "He was so happy," said neighbor Debbie Luzzicone. "His son [Andrew] put his fireman's hat on, and they took a picture of him." "He wanted to be a fireman so bad," said Barbara Lombelino, another neighbor. "That's what makes this so terrible. He was a nice man." Gorumba's death came two months after three veteran firefighters were killed in an explosion at a Queens hardware store fire on Father's Day. Firefighters Harry Ford, John Downing and Brian Fahey lost their lives in that inferno. Gorumba was the second firefighter to die of a heart attack while battling a blaze this year. On Jan. 14, firefighter Donald Franklin, 42, collapsed at a Bronx fire that killed two people. On Jan. 4, Queens Firefighter Gregg McLoughlin, 39, suffered a fatal heart attack while exercising at his firehouse. With Derek Rose and Leo Standora
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rookie
firefighter collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack yesterday
while battling a three-alarm blaze that tore through a Staten Island
auto body shop, officials said.
