Staten Island, NY -Probationary Firefighter Michael Gorumba, 27, of the Fire Department of New York, collapsed and died of a heart attack while fighting a fire at the L & S Collision repair shop in West New Brighton, Staten Island.
According to various early media reports, Gorumba, after ensuring that the hose was properly connected and there were no kinks in the hoseline, was operating as the backup on the hose team. He apparently began to feel ill and returned to the engine to sit down. Firefighters discovered him, unconscious, on the engine. Firefighters and paramedics performed CPR, but Gorumba was pronounced dead at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Before joining the department in February, department officials say, Gorumba, who had a heart murmur as a child, underwent more medical tests than are ordinarily administered to prospective firefighters, and he passed them. He graduated from the academy in July.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
