Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo firefighter Jonathan Croom wasn't supposed to work on August 24, 2009, the day he was killed along with fellow firefighter Charles 'Chip' McCarthy when the floor collapsed beneath them battling flames at a Buffalo deli.
"I didn't even know he was working," Angela Heusinger recalled for WBEN as she called in and relived the tragedy of her son as the events of Wednesday's deadly Main Street fire played out. "These events today have obviously brought back a lot of … wounds that were otherwise somewhat healing."
"On this particular day my son was not even scheduled to work, Heusinger told us. "He was called in for an overtime shift."
Heusinger tells WBEN she learned to live with the fear that came along with her son being a firefighter as he served about 10 years before his passing. "I couldn't think about what he was doing when he was going in or I probably would never have let him go."
On that day in 2009, Heusinger was out of town when she got word that her son was involved in the fire. She was told he was missing, much the same as the situation that unfolded Wednesday. "It wasn't until I got back to into the Buffalo Airport that I actually got the news that they had found his body and he was gone."
Since 2009 Heusinger has lived with the tragedy of losing her son and, to this day, says the families of firefighters and police struggle to grasp in their minds the risks their loved ones take on behalf of others.
"This is the most horrible day for this family," Heusinger said as she struggled to keep composure during her on-air call.
She visits her son often to remember and reflect, and her visit Wednesday had special meaning.
"I had to go spend some time with him to tell him, guess what, there's another family going through the same thing we did."
