UPDATE: FDNY Lt. Gordon “Matt” Ambelas, Ladder 119, killed in Brooklyn high-rise – Fire started by electrical cord
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FDNY Lt. Gordon “Matt” Ambelas died Saturday night while fighting a fire in a Brooklyn high-rise. Lt. Ambelas was honored 10 days ago for a rescue of boy trapped in a roll-down gate.
AP:
A high-rise blaze that killed a fire lieutenant started in a pinched electrical cord in a cluttered apartment, fire officials said Sunday, adding that the fire had been ruled accidental.
An air-conditioner cord was pinned between a bed frame and a wall in the 19th-floor Brooklyn apartment, where Lt. Gordon Ambelas became trapped while looking for possible victims, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said in a statement as investigators probed the conflagration responsible for the Fire Department of New York’s first line-of-duty death in more than two years.
Lt. Gordon Matthew Ambelas, 40, a 14-year veteran of the FDNY, was searching for victims as he and members of Ladder 119 beat back flames on the 19th floor of the Independence Towers on Wilson St. at about 9:10 p.m.
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Ambelas got trapped in the fire in an apartment and suffered mortal injuries, Mayor de Blasio told reporters early Sunday.
“We have lost a real hero tonight and our hearts are heavy,” de Blasio said, standing next to FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro at a hastily arranged press conference at Woodhull Medical Center.
Gordon “Matt” Ambelas, 40, who leaves behind a wife, Nanette, and two daughters, went into cardiac arrest after suffering smoke inhalation and third-degree burns on his head.
The 14-year FDNY veteran had been promoted to lieutenant just 10 months ago.
Ambelas collapsed in an apartment on the 19th floor of the Independence Houses, a city project at 75 Wilson St. in Williamsburg, as he felt his way through the smoke-darkened rooms looking for possible victims.
It is the department’s first line of duty death since Lt. Richard A. Nappi was killed fighting a Brooklyn warehouse blaze in April 2012. Ambelas is the 18th to die since 343 firefighters perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Ambelas, a married father of two daughters from Staten Island, was among the firefighters honored last month for helping to save a 7-year-old boy who became trapped in a roll-down gate in May. The boy was pulled 15 feet off the ground when his arm and head got stuck.
Ambelas said at the time that the incident “shows that FDNY members are always ready to help others. It was great teamwork all around.”
