NEW YORK—FDNY Lt. Richard Nappi battled a fire in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Monday afternoon and ended up overheating, suffering exhaustion, and collapsing. Despite best efforts to treat Nappi, he died at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, according to city officials.
The fire started around 1 p.m. at a commercial building on Flushing Avenue. Multiple units came to get the blaze under control, including Engine Company 237, led by Lt. Nappi.
“We forget the gains that the men and women currently in uniform have achieved over the years really are spectacular. You and I are alive today because of the work of Lt. Richard Nappi. Hundreds of New Yorkers are,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the center, according to a release. “And since none of them, or us, know what horrible fate didn’t befall us, none of us think to thank them. So if you pass a member of the FDNY today or tomorrow, do what I always try to do—thank them for keeping us safe. The life that they may have saved could have been yours.”
Nappi, a Bronx native who lived in Suffolk County, responded on 9/11 after the World Trade Center attacks, and was a 17-year veteran of the fire department. He is survived by his wife and two children.
