Chief Leader

Firefighter Joseph Graffagnino's funeral took place Aug. 23 at St. Ephrem's Roman Catholic Church in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn where he had lived since childhood. Eulogizers recalled a gregarious family man who loved cooking ravioli and meatballs from his mother's recipe at the firehouse each Sunday night as much as he did strapping on his boots and fighting fires.

'Boy's Dream Come True'

"A few years ago when Joe was assigned to Engine Company 284 in Dyker Heights, his trip to work each day was a little boy's dream come true," Mayor Bloomberg said in his eulogy. "He climbed up a ladder leaning against his family's backyard wall and then down another ladder to the firehouse on 78th St., the same firehouse that he had been looking at from his bedroom window since he was a child, feeding his fantasies about some day becoming one of our Bravest."

Firefighter Graffagnino of Ladder Company 5 in the Soho section of Manhattan joined the force in 1999. He died two days before he would have turned 34. He had recently passed the Lieutenant's exam and will be promoted to that position posthumously.

"He earned it," the Mayor said. "Joe was an extraordinarily good Firefighter. He was strong, dependable and quick to learn."

When Firefighter Graffagnino was transferred to Ladder 5 from Engine Company 24 in the same firehouse on the Greenwich Village border, he quickly became known for being able to do many jobs well, including being a tiller, who drives the back part of a ladder truck.

Kept Colleagues Laughing

In their eulogies, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Capt. Patrick McNally of Ladder 5 recalled Firefighter Graffagnino's wit, humor and impersonations that kept all those around him laughing.

"If you had a quirk, Joey found it, and he could immediately do you better than you could do yourself," Captain McNally said. "His Shakira dance is legendary."

Governor Spitzer also spoke at the funeral, comparing the fire at 130 Liberty St. to 9/11. He commended Firefighter Graffagnino for his "virtue" and "valor."

Before the funeral began, firefighters from Toronto and suburban Boston stood with members of the FDNY outside the church to salute Firefighter Graffagnino as a fire truck carried his casket down Fort Hamilton Parkway.

A Competitive Athlete

Firefighter Graffagnino was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery and is survived by his wife, Linda; his father, Joseph; his two sisters, Maria and Theresa; his 4-year-old daughter, Mia, and his infant son, Joseph. His mother, Rosemarie, told the congregation that her son always wanted a brother, and that she considered the members of the city's 11,000-strong firefighter force "the greatest group of brothers there could ever be. I feel I have adopted thousands of you brothers."

Workers peered down through their 5th Ave. office windows to watch the funeral procession for Firefighter Robert Beddia Aug. 24 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan.

The Mayor, Governor and Fire Commissioner also spoke at Firefighter Beddia's funeral. Eulogizers painted a portrait of a competitive athlete who "hated to lose," which gave him the drive to do his best, whether it was rescuing two people from a burning building on his day off, playing paddleball or dealing poker.

Tragedy struck Firefighter Beddia's firehouse in 1994 when three firefighters died at a Watt St. fire. Capt. John Drennan of Ladder 5 was badly burned and stayed 40 days in the hospital before he succumbed to his injuries. Firefighter Beddia drove Captain Drennan's family to the hospital during that time. The firehouse also lost 11 of its own on 9/11. Firefighter Beddia had the day off, and Mayor Bloomberg said in his eulogy that he had never fully recovered from this fact, prompting him to be an even more aggressive Firefighter than he already was.

Firefighter Beddia was a calm man, according to his colleagues, which helped him develop an unbeatable poker face. His patience and talent made him a teacher at the firehouse; he was always eager to train new Firefighters. A resident of Staten Island, he loved Greenwich Village, where he worked, using his days off to stroll the narrow streets and moonlight at a local tavern. Friends dubbed him, "The Mayor of Greenwich Village."

Spirit Remains

"He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the neighborhood," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Firefighter Beddia died at 53. He was appointed to the department in 1983. Divorced with no children, he is survived by four siblings. The Beddia family requested that in lieu of flowers people make donations to a fund for Firefighter Graffagnino's children, a move that Commissioner Scoppetta said "keeps alive [Firefighter Beddia's] generous spirit."

During Firefighter Graffagnino's funeral, Ed Wilkinson and his wife, Augusta Pumilia, of Grant's Pass, Oregon, who had been visiting Ms. Pumilia's family in Bay Ridge, stood outside the church to pay their respects. For Mr. Wilkinson, what was most disturbing was that the day of the funeral newspapers reported that the Fire Department had not inspected the standpipe at 130 Liberty St., which was found to be non-operational, in more than a year, and that construction workers had smoked cigarettes and left flammable materials in and around the work site.

"It's ridiculous," he said.

The department is conducting an internal investigation of the fire and its response in addition to the probes by the State Attorney General and the Manhattan District Attorney. In his eulogy Aug. 23, Commissioner Scoppetta vowed, "We will aggressively pursue this investigation, wherever it takes us."

Mr. Wilkinson said he had never seen a sight like Firefighter Graffagnino's funeral, with thousands of firefighters lining the streets to pay tribute to the 1,136th member of the department to die in the line duty in its 143-year history.

"It's the most moving thing I've ever seen," he said.