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Firefighter Pujdak
Remembered
Fatal Loss of Balance Firefighter Pujdak, 23, had been with the department two years when he responded with Ladder Company 146 to a fire at 83 Meserole St. on June 21. He lost his balance as he stepped off a ladder while carrying a 40-pound saw and fell from the roof, sustaining fatal injuries. Fourth-floor occupant Karen Van Wart reportedly had failed to extinguish a cigarette, which caused the deadly blaze.
Ladder truck 146, covered in flowers, drove up Herbert St. by the church and was followed by the Emerald Society's Fire Department bagpipe band, and a department truck bearing the coffin. The band played "Amazing Grace" as department members carried the coffin off the truck and into the church. During the ceremony, the eulogizers painted the portrait of a man who lived to put others first, whether by volunteering at a soup kitchen or coming to the firehouse early to cook pork chops for his fellow Firefighters. "Firefighting gave Daniel the deep satisfaction of serving and protecting others," Mayor Bloomberg said in his eulogy. His father, Leo Pujdak, talked about how he had been nervous when two of his sons, Matthew and Daniel, decided to become Firefighters, but he spoke of a man whose humility and magnanimity were a testament to his innate devotion to civil service. 'Didn't Want to Be Hero' "He didn't want to be a hero," Mr. Pujdak said of his son. "He just wanted to do and be who he was." Firefighter Pujdak's long-time girlfriend, Vanessa Pschirrer, held back tears as she said that he made her feel like the "most important person in the world." Firefighter Pujdak was known for befriending those with whom he worked and bringing an eager attitude to a stressful and dangerous job. He excelled in training classes, and Captain Horton called him an "ideal probie" in his eulogy. "The only thing that could take a smile off his face was if he knew he missed a job while he was off duty," said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. "He was a rising star, and he did us all proud." Firefighter Pujdak was also known as a competitive athlete. At one point during the funeral, a group of young men sitting in the back pews chanted, with their fists in the air, "Pujdak! Pujdak!" Community Dedication Father William Sweeney, who knew him in his teenage years, delivered the homily and said he had urged Firefighter Pujdak to become a priest. When he decided to join the department, Father Sweeney realized Daniel chose that path out of the same commitment to the community as he had when he chose to join the priesthood, he said. A Mets fan, Father Sweeney recalled a subway-series joke Firefighter Pujdak often told to flaunt the Yankees' superior performance. "How do you eat a Mets' hot dog in October?" he said in reference to the month of post-season baseball. "You don't." Tommy McTigue, a member of the Emerald Society's bagpipe band, heard about Firefighter Pujdak's death June 21 while the band was on a 15-hour bus ride to Charleston, S.C. to perform at a ceremony for the nine firefighters who had died fighting a blaze there a few days earlier. He and the band returned to New York to perform at Firefighter Pujdaks' funeral. In his nearly 40 years with the band, Mr. McTigue has performed at hundreds of firefighter funerals, especially during the 1960s and 1970s when it seemed like, he said, one died on the job every month. "People forget how risky that job is," he said. Firefighter Pujdak was
cremated. | ||||||
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