FDNY announces funeral arrangements for firefighter Timothy Klein
At left, FDNY firefighter Timothy Klein, who was killed fighting a three-alarm fire in Canarsie Sunday. At right, a scene from the fire.
Credit: @FDNY Twitter / Lou Minutoli
Funeral services for Timothy Klein, the FDNY firefighter who died Sunday after a ceiling partially collapsed while he was battling a blaze in Brooklyn, will include a Mass at the Queens church where he was a parishioner.
On Thursday, the wake is scheduled for the McManus Funeral Home, at 4601 Avenue N in Brooklyn, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to the FDNY.
The Mass for the firefighter is 11 a.m. on Friday at St. Francis de Sales Church, 129-16 Rockaway Beach Blvd. in Belle Harbor, Queens.
Adriana Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, said Klein was a parishioner there.
Sunday’s fire also killed a civilian who lived at the house, in Brooklyn's Canarsie neighborhood, according to the FDNY. Mayor Eric Adams identified the civilian in a speech Tuesday as Carlos Richards, 21 and remembered Klein as "one of our bravest firefighters."
Klein, 31, who worked on the team that operates the nozzle for Ladder Company 170, was one of four firefighters caught in the collapse in the Avenue N house.
All the others were able to escape, jumping out of windows or climbing down ladders, FDNY acting Chief of Department John Hodgens said Sunday. One of the four injured in the collapse was released from Brookdale University Medical Center in Brooklyn Tuesday. In all, nine firefighters had been injured in the blaze.
The Rev. William Sweeney, pastor at St. Francis de Sales, said Klein was due to be in a wedding party for a ceremony scheduled for Saturday. The family is now deliberating how and whether to proceed — and how to honor Klein if the wedding goes forward.
"They are mourned by this city and their families," Adams said. "The fire department will never forget the sacrifice of Firefighter Klein. We will never forget."
Bishop Robert Brennan, who leads the Diocese of Brooklyn, will preside at Klein's funeral Mass, and either Sweeney or the fire department chaplain, Monsignor John Delendick, will be the officiant, Sweeney said.
“He not only showed us how to live — nobody in the whole time since he passed away, I haven’t heard a negative word about this kid…," Sweeney said of Klein. "He also showed us how to die.”
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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