DANIEL BRETHEL: A Day at Disney
World
Daniel Brethel, captain of Ladder 24 on West 31st
Street in Manhattan, had had some close calls: His neck
and ears had been burned when he was holding his helmet
over an injured firefighter who was lying on the street;
once he had required a skin graft. Arriving at the World
Trade Center after both jets had hit, he shouted a
warning to his men: "Guys, be very careful, because
firemen are going to die today."
He
had been off duty at 9 a.m. His wife, Carol, hearing
about the attack at their home in Farmingdale, hoped he
was already on the train and knew nothing about it. On
Tuesday night, they came to the house and told her they
had found his body. Captain Brethel, 43, had grabbed one
of his men as a building started to collapse. They dived
under a firetruck. Both were crushed.
On Wednesday, Ms. Brethel went to her husband's
firehouse to empty Captain Brethel's locker. Theirs is a
large, close family. In April, all the brothers and
sisters and their children, 19 Brethels, went to Disney
World, waiting until it was close to closing time so they
could ride Thunder Mountain together.
This week, at least a dozen Brethels, including
Captain Brethel's children, who are 12 and 14,
accompanied his wife to the firehouse. While Ms. Brethel
closed the locker room door behind her, the firefighters
told stories about their captain and the children had a
chance to see the people stopping by and the flowers they
had left. And that was good, said Mr. Brethel's sister,
Loretta.
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