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Michael Fahy is being remembered as a rising star and hero.
A deputy chief in the New York City Fire Department died in the line of duty on Sept. 27 after being hit by building debris from an explosion. Fahy, 44, was investigating a possible gas leak in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx with Battalion 19 when the explosion occurred.
A Funeral Mass was celebrated on Oct. 1 at Annunciation Church in Crestwood, Yonkers. Outside the church, thousands of firefighters lined the route of the funeral procession.
Father Robert Grippo, pastor of Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima, served as the celebrant, and Father Joe Tierney, a weekend associate at the parish for more than two decades, was asked by the family to deliver the homily.
Father Tierney, president of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, told the congregation that God had not abandoned Fahy and was present at the Mass with them to support the Fahy family.
“It’s not going to take away the pain and suffering, it’s going to give solace to the family,” Father Tierney, who has known the Fahy family for several years, told CNY.
Father Tierney also referred in his homily to the Sept. 29 Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, comparing the protector and guardian angel to Fahy.
“Michael Fahy, being a protector and guardian, lived up to his name,” Father Tierney said.
Father Tierney added, “The outpouring of love on the part of the parish was incredible. It’s a very tight-knit, loving community, and I’ve witnessed it for over 21 years. It’s a caring and giving community, and it’s really something to see the faith in the people there.”
Cardinal Dolan presided at the Mass. Mayor Bill de Blasio and FDNY Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro gave eulogies, and Michael’s wife, Fiona ,and two of their three children—Michael and Anna—also spoke.
“For a mayor, there is no more solemn duty than to offer our city’s condolences,” de Blasio said. “I offer them to all gathered here today, particularly to the family of a fallen hero, because we must understand Michael Fahy was a hero.”
Fahy, who grew up in Rockland County, was a young lawyer when he decided to become a firefighter, following his father, Thomas, who served with the FDNY for 33 years.
Fahy was assigned to Engine Company 35 in Harlem after becoming a firefighter in 1999. Five years later, he was transferred to Ladder 14 in the same firehouse in Harlem. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2004 and captain in 2007. Following his promotion to battalion chief, he worked in Battalion 20 in the Bronx before his transfer to Battalion 19.
Fahy, who passed the exam for deputy chief in 2013 and was on the list for a promotion, was promoted posthumously on Sept. 29 to deputy chief, the highest civil service promotional achievement in the FDNY.
“Chief Fahy achieved the rank of chief officer faster than any active member of the department,” Nigro, the NYFD commissioner, said in a statement. “He was a rising star who accomplished so much during his 17 years with the FDNY and is deserving of this promotion for his selfless dedication and service.”
Fahy was the first FDNY member to die in the line of duty since Lieutenant Gordon M. Ambles of Ladder 119 in Brooklyn on July 5, 2014.
Two suspects—Julio Salcedo and Garivaldi Castillo—were arrested in connection with the explosion.
De Blasio delivered a message in his eulogy to Fahy’s three children, who include Cormac, along with his brother and sister. “When you’re grown up, decades from now, good times and bad, you will be able to rely on that knowledge that not only your father was a good man, he was a hero,” he said. “And it will strengthen you.”
