A Bronx jury found both the City of New York and the landlord responsible for a 2005 tragedy that forced six firefighters to jump from the top floor of a burning building, killing two and causing grave and permanent injuries to the other four.
Black Sunday earned its name for being the only day in FDNY history in which firefighters died in two separate incidents. Lieutenants John Bellew and Curtis Meyran were killed in the Bronx fire; FF Richard Sclafani died in an unrelated fire in a Brooklyn basement on January 23, 2005.
The surviving firefighters–and the families of two of the deceased men–sued the owner of the building for allowing the construction of illegal partition walls in the apartment, which blocked access to the fire escape, writes Mary Murphy of PIX Channel 11.
