February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
His flag draped coffin arrived at the church on the engine of Ladder 36 — his company. He was the second firefighter killed in the line of duty since September 11, 2001.
Brick died on Tuesday, Dec. 16, while battling a four-alarm fire at a warehouse in the once heavily Irish neighborhood of Inwood in Northern Manhattan. During the operation he had been searching for victims on the second floor of the warehouse and became separated from the rest of his company, when a stack of burning mattresses fell on him. He was taken by ambulance to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he died a short time later from his injuries.
The 30-year-old had been with the department for two years, graduating from the Fire Academy in the first class after the Sept. 11 2001 terror attacks.
During the service his fellow firefighters from Ladder 36 remembered him as a man devoted to his job.
“His life was not for his own sake, it was for others,” FDNY Chaplain the Rev. Christopher Keenan told the assembled mourners. “One of the things that Tommy and I spoke about together was the wonderful new energy and the whole new sense of mission that he and his class brought to the FDNY. He was proud to stand in the shadow of his brothers. We joked that the two of us represented the oldest probies in the department. He was one of 3,000 new graduates since Sept. 11 and one of the first to make the supreme sacrifice.”
Relatives and friends remarked that he had always wanted to be a firefighter. A close family friend, firefighter James Carney of Engine 69, recalled Brick’s visits to his Harlem firehouse and his dream of the day he received the join up call to the FDNY. Firefighter Carney, who recently retired, gave a eulogy at the funeral.
“Today is truly a dark day. But we cannot let it diminish the light of a beautiful life, or diminish the power and joy of a young man living his dream while serving others,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the mourners. “Even off duty he insisted on wearing his FDNY uniform. He always wanted people to know he was one of New York’s Bravest.”
Following the funeral service at St. Kevin’s, Brick was buried at St. Patrick’s cemetery in Huntington, L.I. Addressing Brick’s children at the memorial service, Bloomberg said: “Your father was a hero.” Then turning to address the assembled firefighters, he added: “You’ll survive Tom Brick’s death. The fire department is better because of Tom Brick’s life.”
Firefighter Brick was appointed to the Fire Department on Oct. 28, 2001 and was assigned to Ladder 36 in Manhattan. Earlier this year, Brick and other members of Ladder 36 received the Thomas R. Elsasser Memorial Medal for rescuing two occupants in a five-story multiple dwelling on 187th Street in Manhattan.
He is survived by his partner, Meredith Esselman, his daughter, Madeline, 4, and his son, Aden, 3.