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A firefighter who plunged nearly four stories from a burning Bronx building three months ago rose from his wheelchair yesterday and walked across the stage to accept his promotion to lieutenant.
Joseph DiBernardo Jr., was one of six firefighters forced out a window by flames Jan. 23. Two comrades died. He and three others were badly injured.
"I wanted to see if I could do it. I did," he said after taking his first public steps across the stage at the Fire Department Training Academy on Randalls Island. "I'm in pain, tremendous pain.
"My legs are going to be swollen the rest of the day. I got to keep them elevated. And that's how it is every day. It's going to be one day at a time," he said as he sat in a wheelchair, surrounded by family and firefighters.
DiBernardo said he does not expect to ever work as field commander.
"I'll never be out in the field as a lieutenant," he said. "I'm done."
He said for the near future, he is going to "hang out and do nothing for a year, and relax and think and calm down."
DiBernardo, a resident of Port Jefferson, was one of 30 firefighters promoted to lieutenant in a ceremony marked by good cheer for the promotees and a pang of sadness for the loss of Lt. John Bellew and Firefighter Curtis Meyran, who died that day.
Later that January afternoon, Firefighter Richard Sclafani was killed in a fire in Brooklyn during a day that is becoming known as "Black Sunday."
Chief of Department Peter Hayden reminded the audience of the dangers of firefighting, and he noted that the father of another new lieutenant, Robert Brown, had died in the line of duty. Capt. Barry Brown was killed July 22, 1982.
Before the ceremony, DiBernardo shook hands with family and well-wishers in a snack area outside the auditorium.
His sister, Carolyn, of Howard Beach, said that when she gets married Sept. 9, her brother plans to usher their mother down the aisle.
His father, retired Deputy Fire Chief Joseph DiBernardo Sr., was on hand, as was his grandfather, Joseph F. DiBernardo, a retired Navy Yard worker who lives in Patchogue.
Carolyn's fiance, Lance Lovejoy of Maspeth, visited DiBernardo daily in the hospital.
"He's a great guy," DiBernardo said of Lovejoy. "Stood by me the whole time in the hospital."
After the ceremony, he recalled how he lowered a fellow firefighter from the window on a rope, only to have the rope break. He went down the rope next, got 10 feet to the broken part and let go.
"When am I going to hit the ground?" he recalled thinking as he fell. "What am I going to land on?"
He said he would still advise any young person to become a firefighter. "It's the greatest job in the world," he said.
Asked if he had any advice for new firefighters, he said, "Be careful and carry a rope."
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc
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