Firefighter Killed, Seven Injured Battling Staten Island Blaze

FDNY officials say 27 year-old Michael Gorumba suffered a heart attack and collapsed at the scene of the fire. He was taken to St. Vincent's hospital where he was pronounced dead. Officials say the husband and father was a probationary firefighter who graduated from the FDNY academy last July. The Staten Island resident apparently had a history of a heart murmur, but passed all FDNY physicals and stress tests.

Five other city workers were taken to St. Vincent's Hospital following the blaze. Two firefighters suffered sprained shoulders, one had a sprained neck and back and another was treated for exhaustion. A paramedic was being treated for smoke inhalation. FDNY officials said all suffered smoke-related injuries.

The mayor was at St. Vincents Tuesday evening, meeting with the families of the firefighters injured by the three alarm fire that took about one hour and more than 130 firefighters to put out. The blaze broke out at L&S; Collision, an auto body shop on Rector Street, just after 2:30pm Tuesday.

Last Updated: Aug 28, 2001