News 4 Archive : Fallen firefighters

BUFFALO, NY -  

December 27, 1983

The darkest day in Buffalo's firefighting history was December 27, 1983, the day a powerful explosion killed five firefighters and two civilians.

A leaking propane take in a warehouse at the intersection of North Division and Grosvenor Streets fueled the blast. The building contained an illegal 500-gallon propane tank whose valve was broken off while it was being moved and the building was evacuated.

The propane started to leak and eventually reached an open flame. The tank exploded, killing all five firefighters assigned to Ladder 5 and two civilians; and damaging a dozen city blocks and causing millions of dollars of damage in fire equipment.

Fire fighters Michael Austin, Michael Catanzaro, Matthew Colpoys, James Lickfield and Anthony Waskielewicz all died fighting that fire.

>> Watch archived News 4 footage of this fire

July 4, 1997

Thirty-year-old firefighter Michael Seguin died on the 4th of July, in 1997 when illegal fireworks caused a home to catch fire and the home's roof collapsed on Seguin as he was battling the flames.

>> Watch archived News 4 footage of this fire

1995

Firefighter Donald Herbert lost his battle in 2006. In 1995, fellow firefighters pulled him from a burning building after a roof collapsed on him. He awoke from his coma 10 years later and communicated with his family for 36 hours, before slipping back into his coma. He died 10 months later.