3 FDNY firefighters from Long Island remembered 25 years after deadly blast in Queens

Anne Downing, Mary Fahey and Denise Ford each waited for their husbands to come home to Long Island on Father’s Day 25 years ago.

They had plans for barbecues and bought gifts; Downing scheduled a vacation in Ireland for a week later.

But none of those plans came to be when the three FDNY firefighters, John Downing, of Port Jefferson Station; Harry Ford, of Long Beach; and Brian Fahey, of East Rockaway, were killed in the Father’s Day fire and explosion at an Astoria hardware store on June 17, 2001.

"We had gone early that day to get Father’s Day gifts," Downing said Wednesday. "We got home and started seeing cars, and I knew it was a disaster."

The Fire Department of the City of New York remembered the fallen firefighters’ Wednesday at the corner of 14th Street and Astoria Boulevard, where Long Island General Supply Co. once stood before it went up in flames.

An honor guard and FDNY officials dedicated a plaque to the fallen firefighters on the side of the building, now newly rebuilt vacant retail space. A stretch of Astoria Boulevard has already been renamed for the three firefighters, and a mural is painted in their memory on a building across the street.

"Father's Day is a day that is deeply meaningful for any family, but in the Fire Department, where so many have followed in their fathers' footsteps, it holds an even greater weight," FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said. "On a day when so many families come together to appreciate one another, these three men went to work for their loved ones. That day was forever changed in an instant."

Investigators later determined the fire may have been sparked by a 13-year-old boy who knocked over gasoline and open chemicals while looking for spray paint behind the store, igniting the store’s hot water heater.

No criminal charges were filed after the fire.

Fahey and Ford, with Rescue Company 4, and Downing, with Ladder Company 163, responded to the initial blaze and were inside when an explosion caused the two-story building to collapse.

The fire occurred less than three months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, foreshadowing the initial loss and pain for the FDNY and New York City.

Mary Fahey said the families didn’t feel like their loss was forgotten or overshadowed by 9/11, but that it strengthened their bond. She said the outpouring of support for the three men 25 years later was proof the FDNY "never forgets."

"Instead, our grief became intertwined in the unbroken story. We became a family forged not by blood, but by shared sacrifice and survival," Fahey said. "Together we endured unimaginable pain, heartache and sorrow."

Denise Ford, a former Nassau County legislator for Long Beach, was left with her two sons, 12 and 10 years old, when her husband died.

She said she still deeply felt the loss, but it helped seeing her sons grow and join the NYPD and the FDNY in their father’s memory.

"The pain is always there, but it’s tempered seeing my children growing up and grandchildren and so many people who are a part of him," Ford said.

She said she worried about her sons becoming first responders like her husband, but she encouraged them to follow their dreams.

"I think it is something about going into civil service. They know what happened to their father, and they chose this path," Ford said. "They wanted to follow in their father’s footsteps."