Henry D. Brookman Medal

Lieutenant Kenneth J. Durante Ladder Company 58

January 4, 2005, 0425 hours, Box 75-3201, 1185 Lebanon Street, Bronx

Appointed to the FDNY on October 7, 1985. Previously assigned to Engines 204, 75 and 36. Member of the Columbia Association and the Emerald Society and secretary of the Company Officers Association. Attended the New York Institute of Technology. Recipient of two unit citations, one Service Rating A and the Thomas Elsasser Memorial Medal in 1996. Resides in Bullville, New York, with his wife, LuAnn.

The alarm bells rang at 0425 hours on January 4, 2005. The members of Ladder 58 and Engine 45 turned their apparatus onto Tremont Avenue in the South Bronx and immediately knew they were going to work. The radio transmissions from the Bronx dispatcher reported that there were numerous calls for a fire on the second floor at 1185 Lebanon Street.

Lieutenant Kenneth Durante was in command of Ladder 58 that night and on arrival, he recognized that he was dealing with a deadly situation. Fire was blowing out of two windows in the front and heavy smoke was pushing from several other windows on the exposure #4 side of the building.

Lieutenant Durante and his forcible entry team--FFs Jeffrey Ehret with the irons and Robert White with the can--proceeded into the building. In the lobby, Lieutenant Durante was informed by fleeing occupants that someone was trapped on the second floor.

When the rescuers ascended the stairs, the fire apartment was obvious to them. Blistering paint and smoke pushing from around the doorjamb of apartment 1K foretold the debilitating conditions that were awaiting them. FFs Ehret and White forced open the apartment door. Lieutenant Durante and his forcible entry team immediately were forced to the floor by high heat, blinding smoke and flames rolling above their heads at the doorway.

The Lieutenant got down on his knees and sized up the interior conditions. He observed a room to his right fully involved in fire and the hallway immediately in front of him was engulfed in flames. Lieutenant Durante then crawled into the apartment to initiate a primary search. Due to the adverse conditions, he entered several feet only, at which point he found a door on his left.

Lieutenant Durante weighed the situation before him. There was a large volume of fire between him and his only exit. There was no hose-line in position to protect him or his forcible entry team if conditions should further deteriorate. Additionally, he was receiving calls from units on the floor above that fire was extending to the third floor.

Lieutenant Durante knew there was only one thing to do. Without hesitation, he crawled into the doorway to his left and ordered FF White to try to hold the fire from extending past the already failing door. The Lieutenant felt his way through the blinding smoke in what turned out to be a bedroom. Conditions dictated that this search be done as quickly as possible. Heat was intensifying and the bedroom door was beginning to burn through.

Lieutenant Durante reached a bed on the far side of the room, made a quick sweep of the mattress and found a victim,  200-lb. Barry Frazier, lying unconscious on the bed. The Lieutenant pulled Mr. Frazier onto the floor and began to drag him toward the bedroom door. Due to the deteriorating conditions and the size of his victim, Lieutenant Durante called FF Ehret for assistance.

Unbeknown to Lieutenant Durante, FF Ehret already had crawled past the fire in the hallway and joined him in the bedroom. As they combined their efforts to effect this exhausting rescue, FF White told Lieutenant Durante that he was out of water and no longer could delay the fire advance.
Mustering all their remaining strength, Lieutenant Durante and FF Ehret hurriedly removed the motionless Mr. Frazier past the fire in the now fully involved hallway. The two rescuers shielded Mr. Frazier from the searing heat with their bodies, thereby minimizing his injuries as much as possible.

Mr. Frazier, with second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, then was removed to the waiting ambulance and transported to Jacobi Hospital. Lieutenant Kenneth Durante’s heroic actions, operating in extremely dangerous fire and smoke conditions, are in the finest traditions of the New York City Fire Department. For his efforts, he is presented with the Henry D. Brookman Medal.—CB

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