Firefighters

COUNCILMAN Jim Kenney is famously the son of a retired firefighter, and Tuesday he shared a bit of what that was like growing up: The morning after a fire, he would wake up and check for the smell of burnt clothes - a sign that he knew his father had come home the night before. Too many sons and daughters of the city's firefighters have woken up without that bitter smell, to a truth much more bitter - the loss of a parent. On Saturday, Capt. Michael Goodwin, father of two, was killed while fighting a fire in Queen Village.

In a brief, searing, and politically charged ceremony outside City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, grieving families, heartsick friends, city officials, and union leaders gathered to mourn the deaths of three firefighters. Under the the heat and glare of an intense sun, the crowd gathered for half an hour, sharing sorrow and indignation. Initially, the event was organized to mark the first anniversary of a warehouse fire in Kensington that killed Lt. Robert Neary and firefighter Daniel Sweeney.

The three members of the Black Flag Family gang - including a former volunteer firefighter - knew exactly what they were doing when they allegedly tried to burn down a 237-year-old piece of Bucks County history, police said Tuesday. Fortunately, they didn't succeed. While the interior of the unique Croydon Lodge - once home to a Revolutionary War-era British officer - is damaged, the outside of the structure is still sound, said Bob Pritz, president of Holland Enterprises, a developer.

Yellow and red were the colors of sorrow Monday on Friar Place in the Far Northeast. Yellow, in the form of Capt. Michael Goodwin's firefighter helmet, set in the window of his brother's house. Red, the ribbons tied to railings, and the new crimson porch lights every neighbor will turn on to mark Goodwin's death fighting a fire in South Philadelphia Saturday night. Against that backdrop Goodwin's family, neighbors and fellow firefighters gathered on his block and remembered Goodwin as a "good guy" who died doing the job he loved.

Michael Goodwin seemed to always run toward danger to help others, no matter the risk. The Philadelphia Fire Department captain died Saturday night while fighting a three-alarm fire in a Queen Village fabric store. Goodwin, 53, of the Far Northeast, had served in the department 29 years after a hitch in the Navy. Friends described him as a natural-born leader who generously mentored young firefighters. Most importantly, they said, he cherished his family, including his mother, wife, two children, and two grandchildren.

IT WASN'T long ago that Philadelphia fire Capt. Michael Goodwin - a popular veteran with nearly three decades in the department - took the test for a promotion to battalion chief. Now, Goodwin will receive his promotion posthumously - after he died Saturday evening fighting a three-alarm blaze in Queen Village - the third firefighter killed in the line of duty in the past 12 months. Goodwin, 53, a 29-year veteran described by neighbors as a dedicated family man, was killed after a third-floor roof collapsed beneath him as he battled a fire in a fabric store at the corner of 4th and Fitzwater streets Saturday.

Yellow and red were the colors of sorrow Monday on Friar Place in the Far Northeast. Yellow, in the form of Capt. Michael Goodwin's firefighter helmet, set in the window of his brother's house. Red, the ribbons tied to railings, and the new crimson porch lights every neighbor will turn on to mark Goodwin's death fighting a fire in South Philadelphia Saturday night. Against that backdrop Goodwin's family, neighbors and fellow firefighters gathered on his block and remembered Goodwin as a "good guy" who died doing the job he loved.

THE FAMILY of Capt. Michael Goodwin, the firefighter killed in the line of duty Saturday, remembered him Monday as a devoted family man who "died doing what he loved. " "My dad was a loving man, a caring man, a hard worker, Navy man, a churchgoing man," Goodwin's son, Michael Goodwin Jr., said during a news conference outside the family's home in Northeast Philadelphia. "He taught me everything I need to know to be a man, and now I feel I'm better because of that. He died doing what he loved - fighting fires and serving the city.

A veteran Philadelphia fire captain died Saturday night fighting a three-alarm fire in a Queen Village fabric store when the roof of the three-story building collapsed beneath his feet. The collapse - followed by the subsequent collapse of a second-floor roof and two walls - trapped Capt. Michael Goodwin, 53, inside the burning building, officials said. A second firefighter, Andrew Godlewski, suffered burns to his hands trying to rescue Goodwin before the second collapse. Dozens of firefighters at the scene on South 4th and Fitzwater Streets saluted as the body of Goodwin, a 29-year veteran of the department, was carried out on a stretcher.