PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The funerals for the 12 victims of the Fairmount rowhouse fire are taking place Monday at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus in North Philadelphia. The trauma of Jan. 5 is still fresh in the minds of the firefighters who were called to the site.
The president of Philadelphia Fire Fighter's Union Local 22, Mike Bresnan, is asking President Joe Biden for money to put back into service Ladder 1 at 15th and Parrish streets, which would have been the first fire company to respond.
A ladder company's primary function is search and rescue. City budget cuts forced Ladder 1 to close in 2009 with a number of other Philadelphia Fire Department engines and ladders.
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“I am glad I answered the phone,” Bresnan said.
The call came from the White House — first to International Association of Fire Fighters President Ed Kelly, and then to Bresnan. By the time Kelly texted Bresnan to give him a heads-up, the local union president was already on the phone with Biden.
“‘Could you take a call from President Biden?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.” And immediately he got on the phone,” Bresnan said, recalling the conversation.
Bresnan says the president listened very carefully.
"The budget that took place, I explained it to him briefly, and the proximity of the ladder that would have responded. He seemed to understand and he seemed pretty concerned about it. He said, 'Listen, if that FEMA grant comes in and that money is there, you guys are going to get it. Get those companies back in service.’”
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Bresnan says he doesn’t know if Ladder 1 would have been able to make a difference, noting how quickly the fire moved through the house. However, he says, he does know that neighborhoods are safer with an engine or ladder close by.
“Commissioner [Adam] Thiel and Mayor [Jim] Kenney have done a great job in restoring four of those companies,” he said. “So we still have three remaining: Ladder 1, Ladder 11 in South Philly and Engine 6 in the Fishtown area."