Yesterday was the deadliest day for the New York City Fire Department since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Newsday reports that three firefighters were killed and four critically injured yesterday battling blazes in Brooklyn and the Bronx in frigid cold and ice.

Lt. Curtis Meyran, 46, of Battalion 26 and Firefighter John Bellew, 37, of Ladder 27 were forced to jump from the fourth floor of a Bronx apartment building after being trapped by flames. The four injured firefighters in the Bronx have been identified as Joseph P. DiBernardo, Jeffrey G. Cool, Eugene Stowlowski and Brendan K. Cawley.

Cawley’s brother, Michael of Bellmore, also a firefighter, was killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

In Brooklyn, the firefighter who died was identified as 37-year-old Richard Sclafani of Bayside, Queens, who was trapped in a burning basement.

Blogger FireResQGuru informs us that a signal “5-5-5-5″ is transmitted whenever there is a fire department LODD (Line of Duty Death). He writes:

It matters not where the firefighter is from, what kind of person they are, or how they died. It does not matter if they were a career firefighter or a volunteer. Whenever a firefighter dies, all of us in the fire service feel the loss. We all mourn for our fallen brothers, and we weep for the families they leave behind. We silently remind ourselves that it could happen to us, at anytime. We don’t talk about it out loud, it’s something we don’t want to think about or remind ourselves about. Every day that I go to work, I remind myself to kiss my Squirt, tell her I love her, and hope I come back again unharmed.

Donations to the FDNY Fire Zone Fund go to fire safety education programs for thepublic and to the Family Assistance Program, for children and relatives of fallen firefighters. Help out if you can and keep them in your prayers.

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