Commissioner Edward Thompson Medal

Firefighter Michael J. Culen
Ladder Company 127

February 28, 2002, 2214 hours
Box 75-4978
139-05 85th Drive, Queens

Appointed to the FDNY on October 26, 1996. Previously assigned to Engine 298. Attended Nassau Community College. Resides in East Northport, Long Island, with his wife, Kelly, and their three daughters, Kathleen, Emily and Elizabeth.

Teamwork is the essence of firefighting. And it paid off in the successful rescue of two Queens residents by Ladder Company 127’s forcible entry team on the wintry night of February 28, 2002.

The Truck Company roared out of its Hillside Avenue firehouse with companion unit, Engine Company 298, shortly after a phone alarm came in at 2214 hours for a reported fire in apartment 5-G, on the fifth floor of a huge multiple dwelling at 139-05 85th Drive in Jamaica. As first-due Engine 298 swung into the street, the Officer transmitted a 10-75 signal for a working fire for the structure--a six-story, 48-apartment complex, measuring 300 by 100 feet.

A much happier time, as Ms. Ines is reunited with her rescuer, FF Michael J. Culen. photo courtesy of FF Michael J. Culen

Ladder 127’s forcible entry team consisted of Lieutenant Robert Stegmeier and FFs Charles Frame, the “irons man,” and Michael J. Culen, the “can man,” who carried a 21/2-gallon fire extinguisher. They arrived on the fifth floor to find fire extending into the hallway at apartment 5-G, where the door had been left open. FF Culen used the water can to hold back the fire so that Lieutenant Stegmeier, FF Frame and he could enter and close the door of bedroom number 2.

The three had heard faint moans from within the long, four-bedroom flat, information that Lieutenant Stegmeier transmitted by radio to Engine 298 and Battalion Chief Paul Tauber, Battalion 50, and to alert EMS about injured and possibly trapped victims.

The Ladder 127 trio began their dangerous search down the long interior hallway of the flat without the protection of a hand-line, since Engine 298 had at least a 15-length or 750-foot hose-line stretch, by Lieutenant Stegmeier’s estimate.
FF Frame found the first victim, a male, in the last or fourth bedroom, followed shortly thereafter by FF Culen coming upon a female victim in the same room. Both were still alive and identified later as Jorge Bello, age 46, and Elizabeth Ines, age 48.

Because there was no fire escape on the street facing the fourth bedroom, FFs Culen and Frame, assisted by Lieutenant Stegmeier, had to make their way back, carrying the two victims through the long, furniture-cluttered interior hallway to the relative safety of the public hall. FF Culen began CPR on the female victim as Engine 298, after a long and difficult stretch, arrived with its charged hose-line to knock down the fire. Both victims were taken to New York Hospital-Cornell Burn Center and admitted, the woman with smoke inhalation and burns, and the man with smoke inhalation.

FF Culen is cited for placing himself at unusual personal risk, passing active fire to perform searches, which resulted in finding Elizabeth Ines. He safely removed her and then performed CPR on her. His actions, which certainly saved this woman’s life, were in the highest tradition of the New York City Fire Department. For exhibiting personal bravery and initiative under truly adverse conditions, FDNY is pleased to honor FF Michael J. Culen today with the Commissioner Edward Thompson Medal. —JM