Firefighters

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.

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.

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.

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.

Berks County authorities say it may take weeks to identify the badly burned body of a man found dead after an early-morning fire in a mobile home. Officials said a neighbor reported the blaze in the double-wide home on Old Route 22 in Bethel Township about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Chief Les Kegerreis of the Bethel Fire Company told the Reading Eagle the roof had already collapsed before firefighters reached the scene. About 75 firefighters brought the flames under control 45 minutes later. DNA evidence will be used to try to identify the victim.

Officials are investigating a fire that claimed the life of a man in an abandoned house in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood early Friday. Firefighters found the man, said to be in his 20s, in the second-floor front room of the property on the 3300 block of Jasper Street around 2 a.m., officials said. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene. A second person was injured, but details about that victim's condition are not yet available. Firefighters reported finding heavy fire on the second floor on arrival, officials said.

GERARD SHAFFER JR., who once aspired to be a Philadelphia firefighter just like his dad, was sentenced to jail Wednesday for killing a man during a 2010 road-rage incident. Before being sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail, Shaffer, 24, cried and apologized to the victim's family. They responded by calling him a "crybaby" and an unrepentant "punk" who acted like a "badass" on his MySpace page even after the killing. Shaffer and his father, Gerard Sr., were in an SUV at the intersection of Knights and Fairdale roads in Northeast Philadelphia on April 8, 2010, when they thought the victim, Mark Wallace, was crossing too slowly in front of them.