Firefighter Dies After Stroke While on Job

PAUL WARHOLA Firefighter Paul Warhola died Aug. 14 at Bellevue Hospital as a result of a stroke he suffered earlier in the week while responding to a fire alarm. The 15-year veteran of Engine 221 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn was 47 years old.

According to a Fire Department statement, the company Aug. 12 was responding to an alarm call on Kent Ave., and "Firefighter Warhola, who was driving the fire engine, checked for a working fire hydrant outside the structure while the other members of Engine 221 entered the building to investigate the alarm. When they returned to the street, Firefighter Warhola was experiencing weakness, dizziness and difficulty breathing. The firefighters began providing medical treatment and transported him back to the firehouse."

He was taken to the hospital, where he died two days later. Firefighter Warhola is survived by a wife, son and daughter. Funeral services were to be held Aug. 19 at noon at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Center Moriches.

Mayor Bloomberg said in his weekly radio address: "People put their lives on the line all the time to make this city safer, and sometimes they just don't come home."